Agnirva Space Premier League - Expedition #30732: Coding in Orbit: The European AstroPi Challenge 2019-20

What if your code could run on the International Space Station? That’s the thrill the European AstroPi Challenge offered to students in the 2019-20 cycle. This ESA initiative, in partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, enabled young programmers to write code for Raspberry Pi computers housed onboard the ISS.

Participants used sensors to gather data on the ISS environment, ran scientific experiments, or even developed games and artistic projects—all remotely. Their programs were uploaded to the AstroPi units aboard the station, where they executed in real-time.

The challenge was divided into two missions: Mission Zero (for beginners), where students submitted simple programs to display messages on an LED matrix, and Mission Space Lab, where more experienced teams conducted science experiments using sensors like temperature, humidity, and acceleration.

European astronauts shared feedback, images, and encouragement, making the experience even more rewarding. The 2019-20 cycle saw incredible creativity—from measuring the impact of solar flares on sensors to analyzing the onboard air quality.

By combining space technology, education, and computer science, the AstroPi Challenge not only brought STEM to life but also showed students that space is closer than they think—just a few lines of code away.

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