Folsom's Coder School To Host NASA App Challenge Open House

Later this week, theCoderSchool of Folsom is inviting the community to an open house this week to experience and inside look into the hard works and students’ participation in NASA’s App Development Challenge (ADC). The event will be held at the school’s Folsom location from Thursday, November 16, from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. at 98 Clarksville Rd, Suite 160, and will give high school students, parents, and the community to see first hand how students are helping shape the future of space exploration.

The ADC, is a component of NASA’s Artemis Student Challenges, encourages students to tackle coding problems that directly contribute to deep space exploration. This year’s challenge tasks students with developing an app to visualize the flight path of Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed mission to return astronauts to the Moon. The project is managed by NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement through the Next Gen STEM initiative and is supported by the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) team, which oversees communication infrastructures that support NASA missions worldwide.

For 10 weeks, students from theCoderSchool Folsom will be working work on the challenge, which began on October 2 and concludes on December 11, 2024. Along the way, they will engage with NASA engineers through live virtual events, office hours, and interviews. Following this period, selected teams will be invited to a multiday event at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to showcase their work to NASA scientists and engineers.

The open house will be an opportunity for theCoderSchool to share their progress and demonstrate how local students are contributing to NASA’s plans to land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon. This event follows the success of the 2024 NASA International Space Apps Challenge held in Folsom, where nearly 100 participants gathered to solve global challenges using NASA’s open data. The weekend hackathon, hosted at Granite City Coworking, drew a diverse group of participants who presented projects inspired by the theme “The Sun Touches Everything,” showcasing solutions for satellite data applications, geomagnetic storm visualizations, and more.

The local event was the largest of its kind in the Sacramento region and featured a panel of judges that included local industry leaders and experts. Three teams received awards for their innovative projects, with prizes provided by sponsors such as the Aerospace Museum of California. Participants also enjoyed solar observations through telescopes provided by the Community Observatory organization, adding to the educational experience.

By taking part in the ADC, theCoderSchool Folsom students are joining the Artemis Generation and contributing to NASA’s long-term goals of establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon and, eventually, reaching Mars. For more information about the App Development Challenge and theCoderSchool Folsom’s efforts, the public is encouraged to attend the open house on November 16.