NASA Space Apps Challenge 2026: Where to Join It in CEE

On the weekend of 14–15 November 2026, teams in hundreds of cities will spend 48 hours building apps, games, data visualisations and prototypes around challenges proposed by NASA. The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is the agency’s annual global hackathon, and this year it runs under the theme “The Next Frontier”.

Central and Eastern Europe has 20 local events on the official map, spread across ten countries, from Stalowa Wola in southeastern Poland to Strumica in North Macedonia. Romania and Poland lead the list with five and four cities respectively, and Bulgaria has two.

What is Space Apps Challenge?

Space Apps Challenge has run every year since 2012. It is open to programmers, scientists, engineers, designers, storytellers and anyone else interested in Earth and space science, regardless of age or professional background. Teams of up to six people pick one of the published challenges and work with open data from NASA and its partner space agencies, of which there are 17 this year according to the Romanian organisers.

The finished project can take almost any form: a website, a mobile app, a game, a hardware prototype or a concept. Local events can send winning teams on to the global competition, and the global winners are invited to a NASA center or facility for a celebration event. Participants under 18 have to be registered and accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

According to the Romanian organisers ROTSA and DiFine PR, the hackathon has drawn about 487,000 participants from 190 countries and territories so far.

This year’s 14 challenges

NASA published 14 challenges for 2026, each marked as beginner, intermediate or advanced. Some deal with space exploration and others with problems on Earth.

Among the more accessible ones, “Interplanetary Survival Guide: Martian Map” asks teams to build an interactive map for exploring and navigating Mars.

“Space Mission Design Game” is about creating a game in which users plan and run their own mission, and “The Earth Information Jukebox” turns NASA Earth data and imagery into sound. Another challenge asks participants to find places on Earth that resemble the surface of the Moon or Mars, such as the Atacama Desert or Haughton Crater, where equipment could be tested before a mission.

The intermediate and advanced challenges lean on scientific datasets. In “Be an Earth System Trend Detective”, teams look for environmental change in NASA data, while “CLPS Lunar Mission Browser” compares possible landing sites and time windows on the Moon.

“Dancing with the SARs” uses radar data from the NISAR mission to track changes on Earth’s surface. “Field Shift: Adapting Farms with NASA Data” focuses on climate-resilient agriculture, and “Flame in Free Fall” uses AI to study how fire behaves in microgravity.

Other challenges include an app for monitoring astronauts’ health during missions, a game in which children manage a lunar or Martian base, and a project documenting the equipment NASA has left behind on the Moon and Mars.

Local events in CEE

Each local event is run by volunteers or local organisations, so formats differ. Most are in person, while some in Poland, Ukraine and North Macedonia are hybrid. To join, participants register on the Space Apps website, open the page of the city they want and click “Choose this local event”.

Bucharest is already full. All 100 spots were taken almost two months before the event, and the organisers are pointing newcomers to Cluj-Napoca, where registration is still open. In Bulgaria, Sofia’s event promises mentors from the local space and tech industry, with the venue still to be announced.

Bulgaria

Sofia, Bulgaria. In person. Mentors from Bulgaria's space and tech industry; venue to be announced.
Burgas, Bulgaria. In person.

Romania

Bucharest, Romania. In person at the Romanian-American University, organised by ROTSA and DiFine PR. All 100 spots are filled; new registrations go to a waitlist.
Cluj-Napoca, Romania. In person at ClujHub, organised by ROTSA and DiFine PR. Registration is open.
Alba Iulia, Romania. In person, organised by Dare.Gen as part of Alba Iulia's year as Youth Capital of Romania.
Craiova, Romania. In person.
Bistrița, Romania. Hybrid.

Poland

Stalowa Wola, Poland. In person, organised by Space 4 Talents, the City of Stalowa Wola and the Stalowa Wola Regional Development Agency.
Rzeszów, Poland. Hybrid, organised by the Podkarpackie Center for Innovation.
Poznań, Poland. In person.
Gliwice, Poland. In person.

Ukraine