NASA Opens Registration for 2026 Space Apps Challenge, Welcoming All Skill Levels

NASA has announced that registration is now open for its 2026 Space Apps Challenge, a two‑day global hackathon taking place on Saturday, Nov. 14, and Sunday, Nov. 15. The event invites participants of any age or background—including students, scientists, engineers, designers, storytellers, and technologists—to collaborate on projects that draw from NASA’s free, open data. Teams will tackle real‑world problems in three key areas: supporting lunar exploration under the Artemis program, preparing for deep‑space missions such as Mars and beyond, and expanding our understanding of the universe through current astrophysics missions like SPHEREx. Challenges cover everything from surface operations at the Moon’s South Pole to monitoring astronaut health on long‑duration flights, and from modeling outpost logistics to visualizing sky changes over time. NASA emphasizes that science is for everyone and encourages the next generation to help build solutions that benefit both space explorers and people on Earth.