This year and for the first time, Nigeria (Lagos and Calabar) will be among the participating cities for the International Space Apps Challenge. This challenge is an annual 2-day hackathon which focuses on utilizing publicly available data-sourced from NASA’s Open Data Initiative towards providing locally and globally relevant solutions to problems pertaining to life on earth and space exploration. This challenge which is spearheaded by NASA, last year, saw 83 participating cities from 44 countries resulting to 770 solutions. With Nigeria as one of the participating countries, this is an opportunity for partakers and enthusiasts in the Nigerian Space community to join forces and hold conversations that will influence the future of Space policy in Africa. The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Abuja, has pledged support for the events. NASRDA staff are experienced engineers, some of whom worked on multi-million dollar sensors for the NASA Mars Curiosity Rover. They will provide expertise through leadership and direction for the event, and inspiring teams looking to find innovative space ideas and solutions on the day. The details of the event are as follows: Lagos (90+ participants expected) Date: 11th – 14th April, 2014 at iDEA Hub, Lagos at 296 Herbert Macaulay Way, Sabo, Yaba. Calabar (60+ participants expected) 10th – 12th April, 2014 at iDEA Hub, Calabar at Emporium C, Tinapa Knowledge City, Tinapa, Adiabo. Both locations will be connected via live video-link to spur participation and collaboration. The Challenges NASA published 40 global challenges for participants to surmount the hackathon, ranging from easy to advanced levels, and centering around 5 major themes – Earth Watch, Technology in Space, Human Spaceflight, Robotics and Asteroids. The Lagos and Calabar events will embrace the above themes by breaking them into locally relevant issues:

• Agriculture and environmental/weather information platforms for farmers
• Mobile apps that can empower the 100M+ mobile users in Nigeria, in innovative ways
• Teaching robotics and space engineering to Nigerian kids
• Getting better information about space innovation down to the grassroots and schools
• More challenges will be created around partner technologies

  Alpha 5 West Africa is the official host for the Lagos and Calabar events. Alpha 5 is a Rapid Application Development platform that enables developers and newbies alike to create complex database apps 5 to 10 times faster than with popular platforms like Ruby, PHP and Visual Studio. Alpha 5 is the development platform of choice for the Lagos and Calabar hackathon. Prizes will be given for the best apps built on the Alpha 5 platform, for the following challenges:

• LEGO Education: Take part in ESA Space Robotics challenges
• Microsoft Nigeria: Build Space App or Game for Windows Phone Platform.
• Alpha Software: Build Web or Mobile Database App Platform and integrate any APIs
• TomTom South Africa: Build great app that uses comprehensive Maps API (they have Nigeria well covered)
• Samsung Nigeria: Build novel Africa-focused Space App for Android Phone Platform

  Though developers make the bulk of participants, they are not limited to them. Visual Artists, Graphic Designers, Data Visualization experts, Physicists, Engineers, Students, Teachers, and even VCs are all welcome to participate in this hackathon. Interested participants can start forming teams and picking from any of the local or global challenges they wish to solve. Registration for the event is now open. For more information, check out the Space Apps Nigeria Facebook page, which will serve as the community centre for both the Lagos and Calabar events. You can also follow the official Twitter account for the event.