THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The NASA’s 48-hour hackathon challenge to be held on Saturday and Sunday has sparked huge interest among space enthusiasts in the state. It will be hosted by the Future Technologies Lab, an initiative by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM).
Until now, over 200 youngsters have got themselves registered for the International Space Apps Challenge, touted as the largest hackathon in the world.
The Technopark campus at Kariavattom here is one of the venues for the hackathon in the country, with Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad being the other centres.
“So far no one from India has been selected for providing the best solutions to the International Space Apps Challenge. Yet, its popularity has only gone up. Space Apps inspire local innovation communities to convene, ideate and create,” said Project Associate of Future Technologies Lab, Michael Mathews.
In fact, Michael was one of the first from Kerala to register for the International Space Apps Challenge in 2014 during his student days.
To enable the participants to give an improved showing this time, pre-event meetings with scientists from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre(VSSC) here have been organised. While, the first session was held here on Saturday, it would be followed by similar sessions at Kozhikode and Kochi.
Future Technologies Lab will select three projects for the global panel to judge. The winners will be invited to witness a NASA launch.
“The local host will also reward the three best projects with a cash prize. Besides, KSUM will support the good projects for incubation.” said Michael.