The 2022 NASA International Space Apps Challenge will have a Sacramento regional venue in Folsom CA

A local team has come together to create the Sacramento NASA Hackathon for 2022. The NASA Challenge event, or hackathon, is a free global event happening simultaneously in hundreds of cities around the world. This year it will be a full weekend on October 1-2 .

Not sure what a hackathon is? It is an innovation "sprint" where individuals and teams have a relatively short and fixed length of time to imagine, develop, and then deliver a completely new product or service. It could be a prototype or mockup, but often the results are a fully functional innovation such as a complex website, a mobile app, or a physical working prototype.

This family-friendly event will be held at The Granite School in Folsom (909 Mormon Street), thanks to the generous support of the Northern California Innovation District .

"This is fantastic to bring to our region!"

-- Phill Scott , Choose Folsom

For those who can attend, a 1.5-hour casual introduction of individuals and The Challenges will occur on Friday evening, September 30th.

Results and testimonials from previous years have demonstrated that the most innovative collaboration happens when people of all ages and backgrounds participate.

Ingrid Rosten, the local lead for the Sacramento event, describes what she enjoys most about it.

"The thing I love about this hackathon is the opportunity to bring the community together, kids and adults, solving real world and space problems together. It enables us to stand together for the greater good of all. It’s fun and together we make a big difference around the world.” -- Ingrid Rosten , Sacramento Lead for the 2022 NASA Space Apps Challenge

The program is sponsored by the Northern California Innovation District (NCID), the Sacramento Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA), Tecma, and CALNY Ventures.

The event is an environment where our regional community of scientists, coders, technologists, designers, students, artists and more come together to solve some of our most pressing problems on Earth and in Space. Participants choose one of the 23 challenges, which have been created by NASA experts, to work on over the weekend. Challenges range from Beginner / Youth to Advanced and from Climate to Games and Art.

Teams are formed early Saturday morning. Then they get straight to work on creating solutions. On Sunday the hackathon culminates with team presentations (“pitches”) that are judged by local aerospace experts and business leaders.

The annual NASA Space Apps Challenge began in 2012. Since then it has had more than 180,000 global citizens participate in over 150 countries. Initially, “Space Apps” was only about Space Science. Now it has grown to also include Earth Sciences, Arts, and Humanities challenges alongside technology, thereby building a more inclusive program.?

There are many ways people can get involved besides participating in the hackathon for the entire weekend. Volunteers, mentors, and sponsors are highly encouraged and appreciated. Brett Hoffstadt is a local engineer and children’s book author with extensive roots in the aerospace community.

“I have seen many times that the most interesting ideas come from the most interesting people. When I learned that we had the possibility to make this event happen for people in our region, I said ‘We must make it so.’ ” -- Brett Hoffstadt , co-organizer & volunteer for the event

Visit the Eventbrite page to register (free) and the 2022 NASA space apps challenge website for more information.