RiverHacks NASA Space Apps Challenge 2026

🚀 RiverHacks × NASA Space Apps Challenge is back! Part of the world's largest global space and science hackathon. Now in its 2026 edition with the theme: "The Next Frontier" 📍 Austin Community College – Rio Grande Campus (1212 Rio Grande St, Austin, TX 78701, Building 1000) 🗓 November 14–15, 2026 Get ready to explore space, aiming to build and make your mark at RiverHacks × NASA Space Apps Challenge – Austin's most exciting space and science hackathon for students, storytellers, and future explorers. Whether you are a college student, K–12 student, educator, engineer, or dreamer, this two-day in-person experience connects curious minds from across Central Texas to solve real problems using open NASA data. 🛰 One project: Two hackathon experiences Whether you dive into NASA's global challenges or take on our RiverHacks "Build Something Big" challenge or both... the countdown is on ⚡ 🚀 Official NASA Space Apps Global Challenge Track -2026 CHALLENGES NOT YET PUBLISHED- tinyurl.com/joinatxspaceapps (For now, it will say "Page not found" there, please wait until the page goes live soon!) 👉 Discover the challenges of 2025 here: https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/2025/challenges/ Start engaging with one of the 18 official challenges of 2025 by using real open data from NASA and their international space partners. NASA open datasets: https://data.nasa.gov/ 🌌 RiverHacks 2026 A main challenge: 🚀 Build Something Great! These challenges do not require NASA datasets, making them perfect for creative, interdisciplinary, or beginner-friendly teams. We have changed the format of this year's hackathon to make it simple and hands-on for RiverHacks participants. Let the ideas flow with these 8 optional inspiration paths: 1. The Astronaut's Spirit – Mental health, nutrition, rest, routines 2. Ship Ecosystem – Water, waste, food system software 3. AI for Space – Mission coordination & exploration AI 4. Space Fitness – Movement & leisure beyond Earth 5. Space Search Engines – ISS-friendly public data searches 6. Space Suit with AR – Navigation & daily support for lunar missions OR 7. Get inspired by the NASA Space Apps Challenges 2025-2026 8. Practice bold innovation in Search & AI (Open to all innovations related to the hackathon theme: "The Next Frontier") --Participate in both hackathons with a single project-- Prizes & Evaluation: •💰 RiverHacks Top 3 Overall: 🤖 Prize for Bold Innovation in Search & AI: A special jury will select several winners and decide how the $5000 will be distributed among teams that fulfill the required bold innovations! The winners of NASA Space Apps will receive global recognition and the opportunity to participate in NASA's global winner prizes 🌐 📊 Evaluation Criteria: RiverHacks projects will be evaluated based on: NASA Space Apps projects will be evaluated based on: 🗓 Important Dates 🎁 What to Expect 🤝 Sponsors & Community RiverHacks NASA Space Apps is supported by SerpApi SerpApi is our title partner. This Austin-based company provides a real-time API to access Google and many other search results. They handle proxies, solve captchas, and parse all richly structured JSON data for you. Participants have access to free credits for the tool! For free API credits, visit: https://serpapi.com/search-engine-apis ---We are looking for more sponsors!— 👀 Would you like to sponsor RiverHacks? Sponsor mirror flyer: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14MeobzzVha0luoRpQjlkobB8TLWZ7YjC/view?usp=sharing 🪙 Platinum Sponsor: TBD 🏆 Gold Sponsor: TBD 🥈 Silver Sponsor: TBD 🥉Bronze Sponsors: TBD Email us at [email protected] Join the mission. Think big. Build bold. And wonderful colleagues like And a special thanks to CGCS (Center for Government and Civic Service) for providing such an amazing venue in the heart of Austin, TX. 👉 Register now to secure your spot. Maximum capacity 200