The University of Luxembourg’s research centre SnT’s LunaLab is challenging the next big names in Space to a test of creativity and skill as part of the 2020 Act In Space 24 hour hackathon.
Act In Space is a global event bringing together space innovators from around the world with unique challenges hosted by partner organisations. Designed for students but open to everyone, the objective is to foster entrepreneurship, encourage start-up creation and promote the use of space technologies and space acquired data to change citizen’s lives, to boost employment, and protect our planet. Act In Space was created by the CNES & ESA, and the 2020 edition will be the fourth instalment taking place on the 13 and 14 of November.
For this year’s event the LunaLab team of SnT, headed by Prof. Miguel Olivares Mendez, have created a challenge to push Lunar Rover design to the limits. The challenge consists of three parts:
- Developing the concept for an application that can be used to configure the software of DIY moon rover
- Detailing the specifications for a moon rover that can find ice on the moon
- Defining a business case and creating the product marketing flyer for the rover
“We wanted the young people who participate in our challenge to get a sense of the entire development cycle of a lunar rover,” said Prof. Olivares-Mendez. “It will be really interesting to see the final submissions as there is so much room for creativity. I hope everyone that participates enjoys the experience of playing with lunar robots as much as I do!”
Prof. Olivares-Mendez and his team will review each entry, and the winning team will receive a DIY kit that they can use to build their rover, and a trip to Luxembourg to test it at the LunaLab.
In Luxembourg Act In Space is being hosted virtually by Technoport, the technology business incubator in Belval (Esch-sur-Alzette). Local teams looking to participate in the hackathon can be up to five people, and Technoport is holding informational webinar’s prior to the event so that participants can get briefed on all the details they need to make the most of the hackathon. You can register for the first pre-event webinar here.