Travis and
Amanda Davis, who graduated from South Dakota Mines in 2012 and 2013 and then went to
work for NASA, are bringing a unique NASA-sponsored event back to Rapid City on
October 1 and 2.
"When NASA accepted our application to bring
the Space Apps Challenge to Rapid City, Amanda and I were ecstatic,” says
Travis. “We are so excited to host the world's
largest space & science hackathon in the Black Hills,” Amanda adds. “After
co-hosting the NASA Space Apps International Challenge in Dublin, Ireland, we
knew this was something we wanted to bring back to the Hills. It offers an
opportunity to bring the community together but also to help foster ideas,
growth, and potentially new business opportunities in the area,” says Amanda.
The NASA
International Space Apps Challenge is touted as an “international hackathon for
coders, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, technologists
and others in cities around the world, where teams engage NASA’s free and open
data to address real-world problems on Earth and in space.” The event is free
and open to the public and includes a series of challenges that teams
can choose from.
During his time at NASA, Travis worked with NASA’s technology
transfer office on patent applications and business outreach projects. Amanda worked
as a NASA operations flight controller for the International Space Station. Now,
both see real business and innovation opportunities within publicly accessible
NASA data.
“Most people don't know that a large portion of NASA
data is available to use for free” says Amanda. “Very few people or
organizations utilize this treasure trove of information and intellectual
property simply because they do not know where to find it and/or how to utilize
it,” Travis adds. “The NASA space apps challenge shines a bright light on the
utilization of the data available through ideation of ‘apps,’ but we like to
concurrently make people aware of the vast intellectual property available to
all through technology transfer offices at NASA,” says Travis.
“The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is an
excellent way for people to learn about and use this data to solve Earth and space
problems,” says Amanda. “This year there are 22 challenges for your team of one
to six participants to choose from, and the ideas and opportunities are
endless."
This is the first time Rapid City has hosted the
NASA International Space Apps Challenge. The global event, which began in 2012,
is held each October over the course of two days. “I'm very excited to see what
ideas our community comes up with,” says Amanda.
Amanda says while the event is all about using NASA
data to solve problems or challenges, those who come do not need to be
experienced computer coders. She says teams that include wide range of
expertise from many different backgrounds and identities most often do best at
finding solutions and opportunities within the challenges posed by NASA.
Prizes will be awarded to the top three local teams,
and one team will go on to compete in the next round of the international
competition. The grand prize will be awarded to 10 teams from around the world who
will be invited to watch a live rocket launch from a NASA facility.
The event begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 1 at the David Lust
Accelerator Building (at 18 E. Main Street in Rapid City). Participants must register before the
event start that morning. Participants
are encouraged to build a
team and pre-register so they can check out the resources available ahead
of time. Those who enter do not need to have a team at the time of registration; there
will be a team-building activity at the start of the event for those who are
not already a part of a team. Each participant will receive a t-shirt, prizes
and food at the free event. There will also be door prizes from NASA and others
awarded throughout the event.