By Maria Larson

Copy Editor

Metro State students can spend a weekend this fall using NASA data to build an app, create a data visualization, design a tool or develop another solution to an Earth- or space-related problem.

The 2026 NASA International Space Apps Challenge, a two-day global hackathon, is scheduled for Nov. 14-15. Registration is open, and participants can choose from more than 450 local events worldwide or join the virtual Universal Event from anywhere.

Students do not need to be aerospace engineers or experienced programmers to participate. NASA describes Space Apps as an event for coders, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, technologists and innovators who work together to solve challenges using publicly available data.

After registering, participants can form a team or join one. They can also select or change a local or virtual event through the close of the hackathon.

The Space Apps Challenge is global. In 2025, more than 114,000 registered participants took part through 551 local events across 167 countries and territories. The 2026 challenge will bring together participants using open data from NASA and 17 partner space agencies.

That means Metro State students can take part in an international event while working with people from different academic backgrounds on a shared problem involving Earth, climate, space exploration, technology or science communication.

NASA Space Apps is not about building a rocket in a weekend. It is about using public scientific information to create a useful, understandable or creative response to a problem involving Earth or space.

NASA and its partner agencies collect information through satellites, telescopes, spacecraft, weather instruments and Earth-observation systems. That information can include climate records, images of Earth, air-quality measurements, ocean data, weather observations and research about the universe.

Much of that data is publicly available, but it can be difficult for nonexperts to interpret or use. NASA created Space Apps to invite people around the world to turn complex information into projects such as apps, websites, maps, data visualizations, educational tools and public-facing stories.

The 2025 challenge included prompts involving artificial intelligence, access to NASA research and tools to evaluate air quality. Teams used open data to develop solutions for Earth and space challenges.

For Metro State students, that means skills learned in class can become part of a real project. A computer science student might build a website or software tool. A data student could analyze or visualize information. A cybersecurity student could help a team think through secure software design and responsible data use.

Students in design, communications, writing or journalism could help make a project understandable to the public. Students in environmental science, public health, geography or urban studies could help a team interpret an Earth-related challenge. Students in business or management could organize a team, define a project audience and help explain why a solution matters.

Those are examples of how students can contribute. Participants do not need to be experts in NASA science, coding or space exploration before joining.

The value of the event is not that every project will be adopted by NASA. It is that students can practice the type of work many technology and science careers require: using real data, collaborating across disciplines, solving an open-ended problem and explaining an idea clearly to people outside their specialty.

How to join

Students can create an account and register for the 2026 NASA Space Apps Challenge.

After registering, participants can select an in-person or virtual local event. Students who do not find an event near them can select the virtual Universal Event.

Registration, event selection and team changes remain available until the hackathon closes Nov. 15. Team formation begins Sept. 17, and teams can include up to six people. Project submissions open at 9 a.m. local time Nov. 14 and close at 11:59 p.m. local time Nov. 15. Participants who submit a project can receive a participant certificate and be eligible for global judging.

For Metro State students, the NASA Space Apps Challenge is an opportunity to use skills from computer science, cybersecurity, data, design, writing, science or business classes in a project that can be included in a portfolio, discussed in an interview or developed further after the event.

NASA-sized problems do not only need aerospace engineers. They also need people who can analyze data, build technology, understand communities, tell stories and design tools that help others make sense of complex information.

The larger idea behind Space Apps is that public science becomes more useful when more people can participate in it. For one weekend in November, students can move from learning about NASA’s work to helping interpret what its data might mean for life on Earth and the future of space exploration.