The Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) invites students to apply to the European Astro Pi Challenge 2022-2023, and get the chance to write computer programs that run on board the International Space Station.

Young people can take part in two Astro Pi challenges: Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab. The deadline to apply for Mission Space LaB is 28 October 2022 and Mission Zero opens on 22 September 2022.

Participation is free and open for young people up to age 19 in ESA member states. Young people can participate in one or both challenges.

Their programs will run on the two new upgraded Astro Pi computers, which launched to space in December 2021. The Astro Pis are named after the two inspirational European scientists, Nikola Tesla and Marie Skłodowska–Curie, by Mission Zero participants. For the 2021-2022 European Astro Pi Challenge, these new computers ran over 17,000 programs written by young people from 26 countries.

In Mission Space Lab, teams of young people work together with a mentor who supports them, and they design a scientific experiment to be run on the Astro Pis on the International Space Station. Teams write a program that uses an Astro Pi's sensors and camera to collect data in space, which they then analyse.

Mission Zero is the beginners' challenge where young people write a simple program and get a taste of space science. All eligible programs that follow the official guidelines will run in space for up to 30 seconds. The young people who participate receive a certificate they can download which their program's exact start and end time, and the position of the ISS when their program ran

More details here.

Image credit: ESA