Deploy Solutions

We Build Great Space Apps, for the World.

Space Apps in Canada: 2020 and Beyond

As a proud Canadian and lifelong space enthusiast, Deploy Solutions Founder Nick Kellett recently took the opportunity to present at the Canadian Space Society’s Annual Space Summit — Canada’s foremost space science, research and technology conference.

Nick’s presentation, “Space Apps in Canada: 2020 and Beyond”, gave conference attendees an overview of Space Apps hackathons, annual events which unlock the potential of space data by bringing together the innovation and creativity of passionate creators, coders, thinkers and tinkerers.

Space Apps — software applications which make use of data from space — have been growing in popularity since NASA’s first Space Apps hackathon in 2012. Local versions of the international NASA hackathon have sprung up over the years and Deploy Solutions has been instrumental as an organizer and sponsor of the annual Ottawa event.

Planned Space Apps hackathons —like so much this year— were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the unique challenges of the pandemic also presented unique opportunities to make use of space data, and a consortium of space agencies hosted an online COVID-19 Space Apps Challenge. NASA, ESA, JAXA, and CSA joined forces to host a virtual hackathon with about 15,000 participants in 150 countries taking part.

As well as the COVID-19 special edition, this year’s ‘’regular’ Space Apps Hackathon migrated online. The event organizers —NASA, ESA, JAXA, CSA and CNES— hosted a virtual hackathon in October for 26 000 participants in 150 countries — with 341 participants in Canada. This worldwide collection of participants created 2300 projects between them, addressing a range of creative and technical challenges.

Despite the challenges of hosting an online event, the Canadian version 2020 Space Apps Hackathon was a resounding success. As well as bringing together like-minded space hackers, the event also offered an opportunity to take stock and plan for future hackathons. For example, the online event lowered barriers to entry, helping to make this year’s event more diverse. Another welcome development was the first nationwide sponsorship of the event by pioneer national sponsor MDA.

As well as the successes of the virtual Space Apps Hackathon, the online setting posed some challenges. Despite synchronous and asynchronous communications channels, it was still difficult to connect with all participants. The “one-time event” structure of the Space Apps Hackathon is also challenging, with little support for ongoing processes and follow-up after events. And, even with online access lowering barriers to entry, the events still struggle with diversity and inclusion.

In his presentation, Nick Kellett addresses these questions and proposes a way for the Canadian Space Society to provide pivotal support for Canada’s Space Apps hackathons. By coordinating at a Canada-wide level, Nick argues for an annual event which promotes diversity, innovation, and STEAM skills while benefiting Canada’s space industry and the country as a whole.

Want to see the full video? You can check out Nick’s presentation below:

GeoIgnite 2020: New Horizons in Space Apps Development

We are proud to have participated in GeoIgnite2020, the first-ever virtual version of the Canadian national Geospatial event, to showcase Deploy Solutions’ strategic importance to the future of the Space sector.

Last July, during the two sessions held, our Founder and CEO Nick Kellett talked about the benefits and potential of space apps, the business problems and technical challenges they can solve and how organizations can leverage them to achieve commercial success.

Nick began his talk delineating the emerging trends in the space industry, more specifically in the satellite launch and Earth observation markets, and continued acknowledging the rising tide of space data, as well as the urgency to meet the needs of end-users by providing value added service, rather than just raw data.

Nick also discussed the emergence of space apps hackathons – events where participants form teams to collaboratively tackle various challenges by designing solutions using open source data.

Space Apps and the Software Factory Approach

With the scene set, Nick introduced the concept of “space apps“, software applications that use data from space to achieve business goals and objectives. He compared them to traditional software applications, emphasizing the need for data processing pipeline, report visualization and good supporting infrastructure elements.

Nick concluded his talk by talking about the various challenges with custom development and how Deploy Solutions is tackling these with its Space Apps Software Factory approach – designed to rapidly produce turn-key business applications using Earth Observation and other data sources to meet business needs and put space data in the hands of end-users.

Our unique and proven software factory approach can help satellite data providers, governments, GIS developers and ISVs unlocking the true potential of space data.

Want to learn more? Watch the full presentation below:

“New Horizons in Space Apps Development” by GoGeomatics Canada on YouTube

Deploy Sponsors Space Apps Ottawa 2020

Another year, another space apps hackathon!

Deploy Solutions is proud to be a continued organizer and sponsor of the fourth annual Space Apps Ottawa hackathon event, which is the local version of the global (and highly popular) NASA International Space Apps Challenge.

Ottawa, prepare for liftoff! The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is an intense 48-hour global weekend hackathon for developers, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, astronomers and enthusiasts. Along with nearly 200 cities around the world, Ottawa teams will form and build products and prototypes against NASA- and CSA-designed challenges that leverage spacecraft, celestial and science data. This FREE and entirely VIRTUAL event will run from Friday evening, October 2 to Sunday, October 4. Find out more, including how to register, at http://www.spaceappsottawa.com.

The solutions to the challenges rely on publicly available open sourced data from NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and other international space agencies and organizations.

Each year this event is provides a fun and creative introduction to the world of open source and space industry projects. Due to COVID-19, this year’s event will be entirely virtual.

See you there!

COVID-19 Special Edition Hackathon, and Impact on Space Apps Ottawa 2020

Space Apps Challenge – COVID-19 Special Edition

NASA will hold a virtual Covid-19 Special Edition of the Space Apps Challenge on the weekend of May 30-31. This is in addition to the annual event which will still be held in October. You will find more information about the special edition event here.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will take this opportunity to release data from MOPITT and Radarsat 2 satellites in the hope that participants across Canada and elsewhere will use them to tackle one of the Covid-19 challenges.

Space Apps Ottawa 2020: Online Only?

Our first concern is to hold our annual event in a way that is not only fun, inspiring, and educational, but safe and secure for all participants.

COVID-19 pandemic will require us to comply with new public safety regulations and bylaws and there is an enormous amount of uncertainty about what October might look like. We may not be able to physically hold this event.

Having said that – our hackathon is still a go!

The organizing committee has begun to plan for a version of this event that will be primarily virtual / online. We will provide updates when we know more.

Register now to help us plan your hackathon experience

Although event details are uncertain, it will be held October 2 to 4 as originally planned.

Please register online in order to ensure your space and allow us to provide you with the best possible experience. In addition, if you would like to assist with sponsorship, volunteering, organizing, or mentoring; or have feedback or suggestions on what a great online hackathon experience could look like, please email us at info@spaceappsottawa.com or contact me directly on LinkedIn.

We hope you will join us for another great year solving “out of this world” challenges in a fun (and now virtual) environment!

Cloud 2 LEO Deployment

Project Overview

Given the dramatic rise in satellite and spacecraft launches, we foresee a need to do 'continuous' deployments while satellite and other spacecraft are in orbit.

When the code is uploaded to the satellite it must be verified and tested before and after updating. If errors occur the code must either cancel deployment or rollback to the previous version of the code.

In the space industry, code deployment is generally done via proprietary and closed-source methods, which prevents standardization, and is likely to increase development and operational cost and risk versus an open source standard.

This proprietary approach to code deployment contrasts with the software industry which has numerous standardized and open toolsets to perform these tasks (the practice of which is called “continuous integration” and “continuous delivery”).

We are therefore working with New Space partners (and others) to apply software industry practices, technologies, and processes to the space industry (particularly “continuous integration/continuous delivery”).

Project Goals & Objectives

Broadly, our intent is to build a CI/CD pipeline that will assist and be adopted by the space industry upstream segment, particularly New Space start ups or companies managing LEO satellites / constellations that are looking to standardize their code deployment practices.

Goal #1: Develop an open and standardized CI/CD process to deploy software code and data to a satellite via a (software simulated) ground station.

Goal #2: Customize the CI/CD process and demonstrate with a satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

Project Results

This project is currently in progress. Preliminary work has begun on user stories and draft solution architecture and design. More concrete results (and code!) will be posted as project milestones are reached.

At a Glance

Free and open source project to build a continuous integration/delivery (CI/CD) pipeline to deploy code and data from a local developer's machine to a satellite in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO).

Project type: Free and Open Source (FOSS)
Status: In progress
Start date: 2019-11-15
End date: Ongoing
Open Source License: FOSS license TBD

Related

Space Apps in Canada: 2020 and Beyond

2020-12-19
As a proud Canadian and lifelong space enthusiast, Deploy Solutions Founder Nick Kellett recently took the opportunity to present at the Canadian Space Society’s Annual Space Summit — Canada’s foremost space science, research and technology conference. Nick’s presentation, “Space Apps in Canada: 2020 and Beyond”, gave conference attendees an overview of Space Apps hackathons, annual […]
Read More →

GeoIgnite 2020: New Horizons in Space Apps Development

2020-11-30
At GeoIgnite2020, CEO Nick Kellett talked about the benefits and potential of a software factory approach to building GIS and space apps.
Read More →

Deploy Sponsors Space Apps Ottawa 2020

2020-09-16
Deploy Solutions is proud to be a continued organizer and sponsor of Space Apps Ottawa, the local version of the NASA International Space Apps Challenge.
Read More →

COVID-19 Special Edition Hackathon, and Impact on Space Apps Ottawa 2020

2020-05-24
Space Apps Challenge – COVID-19 Special Edition NASA will hold a virtual Covid-19 Special Edition of the Space Apps Challenge on the weekend of May 30-31. This is in addition to the annual event which will still be held in October. You will find more information about the special edition event here. The Canadian Space […]
Read More →

Space Apps Hackathons

2020-01-26
Space Apps hackathons are a fun introduction to the world of open source projects and the space industry. Solve challenges designed by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.
Read More →

RADARSAT-1 Liberators

2019-12-24
Prototype website to connect with Government of Canada EODMS system and position RADARSAT-1 image locations and metadata on a world map, to allow users to easily view and filter against the whole Earth Observation data set.
Read More →

Space Apps Hackathons

Project Overview

NASA has been organizing the International Space Apps hackathon since 2012. It is now considered the world's largest hackathon. In 2019, there were nearly 30,000 participants in 230 locations in 80 countries.

Canada's space hackathon history is quite hard to pin down. Initially the events here were simply the local versions of the NASA events.

The first Ottawa hackathon began in 2017. That year, the Canadian federal government began to support our local events (led by the Canadian Space Agency).

Deploy Software Solutions is an inaugural founder and proud co-organizer of Space Apps Ottawa.

Project Goals & Objectives

NASA has stated its hackathon goals are to:

  • Exemplify principles of transparency, participation and collaboration
  • Utilize openly available data, supplied through NASA and CSA missions and technology
  • Utilize the talent and skill of passionate volunteers from around the planet
  • Advance space exploration and improve the quality of life on Earth

The Canadian Space Agency is the primary federal organization supporting Space Apps in Canada, assisted by others such as Natural Resources Canada.

Their 2019 data strategy includes community engagements, such as hackathons, to facilitate the use of data and access to science. One major goal is to raise awareness of their mandate and missions, while another is to support Canada's Open Government Initiative.

Project Results

Over a 48-hour period, participants form teams to pick and solve a posted challenge. Although this isn't enough time to produce a production-ready system, it is plenty to come up with creative solutions that explore and de-risk future development.

Businesses are frequently unaware of availability of space-based data sets, unsure how to leverage them, or it is prohibitive to proceed.

Major software failure factors are:

  • unclear business requirements
  • lengthy development or planning times
  • lack of agile process
  • Deferring risks
  • Lack of end user engagement and change management

These all appear to be major risk factors currently for downstream software development. Therefore, any activity that can help reduce these failure factors is worthwhile.

Kevin Jones from PCI Geomatics wrote a great blog about a software prototype created at last year's event, "Hacking to Liberate RADARSAT-1 Data". It provides insight into how hackathons work and why they are a beneficial way to reduce software development risk, cost, and duration.

We believe space apps hackathons have positive benefits to society as well:

  • Space investment is generally a GDP multiplier. Space Apps is a low-cost and low-risk way of getting outreach for space.
  • They raise awareness with businesses that are not (currently) space-enabled
  • They increase STEM and design skills (including in youth and under-represented groups)
  • They promote job creation and growth
  • They promote science and open data
  • They tap into a wealth of design, development, AI, big data experience in other industries

At a Glance

Space Apps hackathons are a fun introduction to the world of open source projects and the space industry. Solve challenges designed by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.

Project type: Hackathon
Status: In Progress
Start date: 2012
End date: Ongoing annual event
Open Source License: All solutions are open source (chosen license varies by team)

  • View New Horizon Presentation (PDF)

    History of Space Apps hackathon internationally and in Canada.

  • Visit NASA Space Apps Challenge Website

    Visit the international website for the event.

  • Visit Space Apps Ottawa website

    Visit the website to learn more and register for our Ottawa events.

  • Read "Hacking to Liberate RADARSAT-1 Data"

    Blog post on Go Geomatics Canada: "How four individuals came together at the recent Ottawa Space Apps Challenge to create intuitive access to the RADARSAT-1 Catalog"

Related

Space Apps in Canada: 2020 and Beyond

2020-12-19
As a proud Canadian and lifelong space enthusiast, Deploy Solutions Founder Nick Kellett recently took the opportunity to present at the Canadian Space Society’s Annual Space Summit — Canada’s foremost space science, research and technology conference. Nick’s presentation, “Space Apps in Canada: 2020 and Beyond”, gave conference attendees an overview of Space Apps hackathons, annual […]
Read More →

GeoIgnite 2020: New Horizons in Space Apps Development

2020-11-30
At GeoIgnite2020, CEO Nick Kellett talked about the benefits and potential of a software factory approach to building GIS and space apps.
Read More →

Deploy Sponsors Space Apps Ottawa 2020

2020-09-16
Deploy Solutions is proud to be a continued organizer and sponsor of Space Apps Ottawa, the local version of the NASA International Space Apps Challenge.
Read More →

COVID-19 Special Edition Hackathon, and Impact on Space Apps Ottawa 2020

2020-05-24
Space Apps Challenge – COVID-19 Special Edition NASA will hold a virtual Covid-19 Special Edition of the Space Apps Challenge on the weekend of May 30-31. This is in addition to the annual event which will still be held in October. You will find more information about the special edition event here. The Canadian Space […]
Read More →

Cloud 2 LEO Deployment

2020-01-27
A free and open source project to build a continuous integration/delivery (CI/CD) pipeline to deploy code and data from a local developer's machine to a satellite in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO).
Read More →

RADARSAT-1 Liberators

2019-12-24
Prototype website to connect with Government of Canada EODMS system and position RADARSAT-1 image locations and metadata on a world map, to allow users to easily view and filter against the whole Earth Observation data set.
Read More →

RADARSAT-1 Liberators

Project Overview

For 17 years, Canada's RADARSAT-1 earth observation satellite obtained radar images of the Earth's surface. Many of these images remain unprocessed and there is no easy way for interested users to examine the location and availability of currently unprocessed images.

During the Space Apps Ottawa 2019 hackathon, a team of four volunteers tackled a Canadian Space Agency/Natural Resource Canada challenge. The goal was to automate and improve searches on the Government of Canada EODMS system and then position RADARSAT-1 image locations and metadata on a world map, to allow users to easily view and filter against the whole Earth Observation data set.

Project Goals & Objectives

The goal of CSA and NRCan (Natural Resources Canada) is to make more RADARSAT-1 data available. Currently only 2% is processed and open to the public. To reduce high processing costs, the CSA would like to identify and prioritize datasets that could be useful for research purposes.

Because this project was a direct response to a hackathon challenge they posed, it has a single SMART objective: solve the challenge.

  • Specific: "Realtor.ca, for RADARSAT-1". Create a script to automate searches in the EODMS database and display the results on a map.
  • Measurable: A website must allow users to perform EODMS searches with filters, and display real data results and EO imagery metadata on a world map.
  • Achievable: Work is limited to proof of concept including some hard-coded and manual steps to demonstrate "art of the possible".
  • Rewarding: Project will demonstrate significantly improved and intuitive EODMS search experience and solve a real challenge posed by CSA and NRCan.
  • Time-bound: POC must be completed within 48-hours of project start.

Project Results

Team members (from a variety of organizations). L to R: Kevin Jones, Nick Kellett, Adam Simonini, Alan Higginson
Team members (from a variety of organizations). L to R: Kevin Jones, Nick Kellett, Adam Simonini, Alan Higginson

Over a 48-hour period, our volunteer team (from several different companies, including Deploy) created a working website composed of:

  • Front end search website using Vue.js and MapBox, served by node.js
  • GeoJSON REST API middleware using C#
  • Geospatial Metadata database using Postgres and PostGIS.
  • GeoJSON extract and intake process from the EODMS system to our metadata database

The resulting proof of concept was well received by CSA and NRCan, subsequently winning the challenge category in Ottawa and then nationally.

We can provide a demo of the working system, upon request. The code is open source under Apache 2 and also available upon request.

One of our team-members Kevin Jones wrote a great blog about the development effort, "Hacking to Liberate RADARSAT-1 Data". It also provides good insight into how hackathons work and why they are a beneficial way to reduce software development risk, cost, and duration.

At a Glance

Prototype website to connect with Government of Canada EODMS system and position RADARSAT-1 image locations and metadata on a world map, to allow users to easily view and filter against the whole Earth Observation data set.

Project type: Hackathon
Status: Complete
Start date: 2019-10-18
End date: 2019-10-20
Open Source License: Apache 2

  • View Hackathon Presentation (PDF)

    Detailed overview of the solution, as presented during the Space Apps Ottawa 2019 hackathon.

  • Clone front-end code from GitHub

    Download or clone the web front-end portion of the solution, from GitHub.

  • Clone back-end code from GitHub

    Download or clone the admin/back-end portion of the solution, from GitHub.

  • Read "Hacking to Liberate RADARSAT-1 Data"

    Blog post on Go Geomatics Canada: "How four individuals came together at the recent Ottawa Space Apps Challenge to create intuitive access to the RADARSAT-1 Catalog"

Related

Space Apps in Canada: 2020 and Beyond

2020-12-19
As a proud Canadian and lifelong space enthusiast, Deploy Solutions Founder Nick Kellett recently took the opportunity to present at the Canadian Space Society’s Annual Space Summit — Canada’s foremost space science, research and technology conference. Nick’s presentation, “Space Apps in Canada: 2020 and Beyond”, gave conference attendees an overview of Space Apps hackathons, annual […]
Read More →

GeoIgnite 2020: New Horizons in Space Apps Development

2020-11-30
At GeoIgnite2020, CEO Nick Kellett talked about the benefits and potential of a software factory approach to building GIS and space apps.
Read More →

Deploy Sponsors Space Apps Ottawa 2020

2020-09-16
Deploy Solutions is proud to be a continued organizer and sponsor of Space Apps Ottawa, the local version of the NASA International Space Apps Challenge.
Read More →

COVID-19 Special Edition Hackathon, and Impact on Space Apps Ottawa 2020

2020-05-24
Space Apps Challenge – COVID-19 Special Edition NASA will hold a virtual Covid-19 Special Edition of the Space Apps Challenge on the weekend of May 30-31. This is in addition to the annual event which will still be held in October. You will find more information about the special edition event here. The Canadian Space […]
Read More →

Cloud 2 LEO Deployment

2020-01-27
A free and open source project to build a continuous integration/delivery (CI/CD) pipeline to deploy code and data from a local developer's machine to a satellite in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO).
Read More →

Space Apps Hackathons

2020-01-26
Space Apps hackathons are a fun introduction to the world of open source projects and the space industry. Solve challenges designed by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.
Read More →

A New Horizon – Space Apps in Canada

In October Deploy Software Solutions was an organizing sponsor of the third annual Space Apps Ottawa hackathon, which is the local branch of the global (and highly popular) NASA International Space Apps Challenge. The event is

…an intense 48-hour global weekend hackathon for developers, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, astronomers and enthusiasts. Along with nearly 200 cities around the world, Ottawa teams will form and build products and prototypes against NASA-designed challenges that leverage spacecraft, celestial and science data.

This is a fun introduction to the world of open source projects and the space industry. The challenges are designed by both NASA and our own Canadian Space Agency. Solutions to the challenges rely on NASA’s publicly available open sourced data and require teamwork and creativity!

At this year’s Canadian Space Society annual summit, CEO Nicholas Kellett had a chance to speak about the opportunity Space Apps hackathons can play in Canada’s space industry. The presentation, called “A New Horizon: Space Apps in Canada” provided a

…satellite-eye view of hackathons and space apps globally and in Canada. What are they, what business problems and technical challenges can they solve, what is their history and how can the Canadian space industry leverage them to achieve downstream software excellence?

View the full presentation on SlideShare.

Space Apps Ottawa is back, October 19-21

Deploy Software Solutions is once again proud to be a host sponsor of the annual Space Apps Ottawa hackathon, which is the local branch of the global (and highly popular) NASA International Space Apps Challenge. The event is

…an intense 48-hour global weekend hackathon for developers, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, astronomers and enthusiasts. Along with nearly 200 cities around the world, Ottawa teams will form and build products and prototypes against NASA-designed challenges that leverage spacecraft, celestial and science data. This FREE event will run from Friday evening, October 19 to Sunday, October 21.

This is a fun introduction to the world of open source projects and the space industry. The challenges are designed by both NASA and our own Canadian Space Agency. Solutions to the challenges rely on NASA’s publicly available open sourced data and require teamwork and creativity!

Last year’s teams used artificial intelligence, GIS and mapping technologies, industrial design techniques, and many other cool ideas and technologies to meet their chosen challenges. Find out more, including how to register, at http://www.spaceappsottawa.com

We hope to see you there!