NASA SpaceApps 2023, My First Hackathon Experience

Alright, I'll tell you the truth, the title is a bit of a lie. NASA SpaceApps 2023 wasn't actually my first hackathon. I've attended 2 hackathons before. But, there's a reason why I call this my FIRST hackathon.

I've never been a true participant in a hackathon before. I usually get demotivated early and leave midway.

Well, not this time. Here's my story of what I did and what I achieved out of my very first in-person hackathon experience.

Presenting: Team Antriksh

I, along with 5 of my coursemates formed Team Antriksh (space in Sanskrit). Coincidentally, all of us were going to this hackathon as our first. All of us are 3rd-year Computer Engineers (Brownie points to us for diversity right........right?)

NASA had given us a list of 31 challenges and we had to choose one that suited us the best. And we went with the one with which we'd have the most fun with.

The challenge was quite interesting. In the distant future, Space Tourism is prevalent, and we had to build an itinerary tool (website/app/brochure) for that.

What Did We Do?

The hackathon was a 48-hour event. And boy was it a hell of two days!

Having hours of brain-storming sessions, having free pizzas all the time to sleeping on tables and walls, we did it all. However, keeping the fun aside, here's what we built.

We built, Antriksh. A website that gives its users access to a custom itinerary tool for booking rides to their favourite planet while simultaneously educating the current population about space itself.

On our website, based on your interests and your starting and ending destinations, you'll get a personalised itinerary for various tourist expeditions.

We knew that our challenge didn't require us to build something out of the box. Having said that, our X factor, or the WOW factor, was our ideas for space tourism.

So we came up with the craziest ideas possible. And god did we have fun coming up with them. Here are our best ones.

1. Trekking on a volcano on Mars that's twice as high as Mt. Everest

2. Staying in a space hotel orbiting your favourite planet

3. Leisure Hopping on Pluto's low gravity icy-crust

4. Doing zero-g yoga

5. Going scuba diving on Europa (Jupiter's moon) sea waters

6. Enjoy Ice-Skating on Ganymede (Jupiter's moon) while witnessing the stunning auroras at the moon

7. Spend time with your better half ice skating on the heart-shaped icy crust of Pluto

We had many more!

Moreover, we also included "Packages" on our website that'd be a pre-planned trip to your favourite destinations.

Lastly, we had a Know Your Solar System (KYSS) page, pun intended. This page aimed to educate the current population about our solar system.

What Did We Achieve?

Well, there were three prizes: 1st, 2nd and 3rd. And after surviving on free pizzas and 5 hours of sleep, we didn't achieve any of that. But, to say we didn't achieve anything, would be a huge understatement.

We achieved a ton of learning and a bunch of important connections. This hackathon made us bring our ideas to life and sell them to judges through a pitch in just 48 hours!

I finally got through the constant hesitation of learning new things on the go. I prepared a full pitch deck and a pitch of our project in a few hours and got great feedback on it as well!

I met great people during these 48 hours who made my first hackathon worth the effort. Special Mentions to Sahir Sharma (Event Lead) and Kkhawaish Gulati (Organiser, and my senior at college) for giving us tons of advice on our project.

Lastly, this hackathon has made me want to do more hackathons and keep working on cool projects. And I can't wait to be on my next one!

Here's how our whiteboard looked after all of it.

P.S. Here's our pitchdeck. Have fun.

Click here.