Astro Pi Mission Zero 2022/23 challenge has completed
All the Mission Zero programs for 2022/23 have now completed running on the International Space Station (ISS). The programs, submitted by young people from across Europe, ran on the ISS in the final week of May, displaying colourful images and animations of animals and plants. The Python programs ran on the two Astro Pi computers, which are called Marie Curie and Nikola Tesla and are situated in the Columbus module of the ISS.
A mission inspired by nature
The Mission Zero activity this year was to use the Astro Pi’s colour sensor to take a measurement of the lighting conditions in the Columbus module and use that as part of an image or animation on the 8×8 LED display. ESA and Raspberry Pi Foundation (RPF) invited young people to create images on the theme of ‘Fauna and Flora’ to give the astronauts on board the ISS a reminder of the beautiful creatures, plantlife, and landscapes found on planet Earth.
Tens of thousands of young people took part
This year we received 15,551 submissions for Mission Zero, and 15,475 were eligible to run on the ISS after passing the entry criteria. They were submitted by a total of 23,605 young people from across Europe, working in teams or independently. 10,207 of this year's participants are girls.
This year the most Mission Zero programs came from young people in the UK, followed by Spain, France, Italy, and Greece.
To celebrate the many different people involved in this year’s challenge, we have created a meta image of the Mission Zero logo made up of lots of your inspiring designs. We hope you like it! You can see an interactive version here - is your entry in there somewhere? See if you can find it!
All of the participants whose programs ran on the ISS will be receiving a certificate to reward their efforts, which will include the time and a map showing the location of the ISS at the time their program was running.
Next year
If you have enjoyed participating in the European Astro Pi Mission Zero challenge this year, then we would be delighted to see you again next year. The activity of designing an image has been really popular, and ESA and RPF have been very impressed with the creativity of the submissions.
We will be launching this programme again starting in September. If you would like to hear news of the Astro Pi mission launches, please sign up to our newsletter here.
We are always interested to hear your feedback about Mission Zero, as a mentor or participant. If you would like to share your thoughts with us, please email enquiries@astro-pi.org.