The European Astro Pi Challenge is back for 2022-23!
In brief
We’re excited to announce that the European Astro Pi Challenge is back for another year! This is your chance to write computer programs that run on board the International Space Station.
In-depth
Young people can take part in two Astro Pi challenges: Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab. Participation is free and open for young people up to age 19 in ESA member states (see more details about eligibility on the Astro Pi website). Young people can participate in one or both challenges.
Their programs will run on the two new upgraded Astro Pi computers, which launched to space in December 2021. The Astro Pis are named after the two inspirational European scientists, Nikola Tesla and Marie Skłodowska–Curie, by Mission Zero participants. For the 2021-22 European Astro Pi Challenge, these new computers ran over 17,000 programs written by young people from 26 countries.
Here is ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer getting the new Astro Pis ready for young people's' experiments.
You can register for Mission Space Lab from today
In Mission Space Lab, teams of young people work together with a mentor who supports them, and they design a scientific experiment to be run on the Astro Pis on the International Space Station. Teams write a program that uses an Astro Pi's sensors and camera to collect data in space, which they then analyse. This video has more information about the Astro Pi computers and how teams can choose an experiment idea:
Registration for Mission Space Lab is now open, and participation takes place over eight months. Mentors need to register their team and submit the team's experiment idea by 28 October 2022. For more details on how to register, visit the Mission Space Lab web page.
Find out more about Mission Space Lab
For inspiration, you can read the reports written by the winning teams for Mission Space Lab 2021/22. What will your team’s experiment idea be? We can't wait to hear about it.
Mission Zero is starting soon
Mission Zero is the beginners' challenge where young people write a simple program and get a taste of space science (more info coming soon!).
All eligible programs that follow the official guidelines will run in space for up to 30 seconds. The young people who participate receive a certificate they can download which their program's exact start and end time, and the position of the ISS when their program ran — their piece of space science history to keep!
Mission Zero opens on 22 September 2022. Watch this space for more details on launch day.
Get involved!
Learn more, access the project resources, and join Astro Pi in astro-pi.org.
If you want to know more about ESA education activities, register here to join us for a live Teach with Space 2022-2023 Information Session, 27 September at 17:00 CEST. We will walk-through each of the annual ESA school projects, providing you with everything you need to know - how to apply, how to get started, and new exciting activities that will be organised throughout the year