INTERNATIONAL SPACE CHALLENGE (ISC) 2023
ISC 2023 Theme: Climate Change
Climate change is a threat to human well-being and the planet’s health, an urgent issue that the world is trying to address.
Space-based technologies and assets, such as remotely sensed data, can help enhance our understanding of water cycles, air quality, forests and other aspects of the natural environment. These tools provide valuable information on the state of our ecosystems, and allow us to take actionable steps toward conservation and sustainable development.
This year, we will invite our youths to take up the challenge and tackle this imminent threat facing our planet. Registration is now open!
ISC 2023 Challenge Statements
Starter Category
Create a solution using satellite data to help business leaders make sustainable decisions
Advanced Category
What is the International Space Challenge?
An international annual challenge since 2007
The International Space Challenge (ISC) is one of the few platforms that connects young minds across the globe with industry experts, to nurture interest in space technology and its applications. It taps into the creativity of young minds to find new solutions and create a pathway for future commercialisation of these ideas.
Started in 2007 as the Singapore Space Challenge (SSC), it was a national space design competition to challenge student teams to leverage space technology. Since then, it has become a landmark platform with global reach. The SSC rebranded as the International Space Challenge (ISC) in 2021 with the aim of increasing diversity and to generate more accreditation from global organisations. Over 2000 youths have come through the doors of the challenge, drawing interest from over 20 countries around the world.
Held annually, the challenge calls for youths to work in teams to solve problems developed closely with the industry, derive theoretical models, design prototypes, and create simulations of their creative solutions. During the challenge, they hear from industry and subject matter experts, receive mentorship and gain access to technical tools to help them complete their proposal. Final entries are reviewed and judged by esteemed technical leaders from around the world. To date, youths have created solutions for ‘Designing a Lunar Rover’, ‘Solution for Space Debris’, ‘Design a satellite system for disaster mapping’ just to name a few.
Objectives
- Inspire interest among youth and encourage participation in space-related activities
- Ignite and fuel the younger generation’s interest in STEM through ISC’s exciting and out-of-this-world projects
- Educate the public on the applications and benefits of space technology in our everyday lives
- Encourage creative engineering concepts to further innovation and advancements in space and non-space environment
- Provide a platform where students, academia and the industry can interact to discuss and align technical concerns and research areas and projects
Schedule of ISC 2023
All dates are local Singapore Time (GMT+8).
4 May 22
Registration Opens
23 May 22
ISC 2023 Introductory Briefing #1
1 July 22
ISC 2023 Introductory Briefing #2
18 Aug 22
Participants' Kick-off Webinar
Aug - Nov 22
Webinars, Workshops, & Meet-the-Expert Sessions
17 Dec 22
Networking Party
30 Dec 22
Project Submission Deadline
Jan 23
Grading by Experts & Judges
16 Feb 23
Youth Dialogue & Awards Ceremony
Criteria
Participating teams must satisfy the following conditions:
- 3 to 4 participants per team
- All team members must provide a valid email address
- (Starter Category) Participants are aged 13 – 18 years old as of 31 Dec 2022
- (Open Category) Participants are aged 15 – 25 years old as of 31 Dec 2022
If you have yet to form a team of four members, you can submit your initial registration with the details of minimum one team member.
Deliverables
1. Project Proposal
- Recommended 10 pages max, in Times New Roman or Arial, Size 12, 1.5 spacing.
- It is advised that the proposal contains the following; teams may choose to include more deliverables as they see fit:
- Background information on the solution they have come up with and the businesses/target audiences they intend to help.
- Type(s) of space asset they have chosen to use.
- A step-by-step explanation of how the solution works.
- Potential Challenges & Conclusion
- References
2. Business Pitch Deck
- Teams are required to submit a business pitch of their solution in Powerpoint or equivalent not exceeding 25 slides.
3. Video Presentation
- For the judges to better assess the concept, students must submit a video recording (not exceeding 5 minutes) of themselves presenting their report and explaining their project to the judges.
- Including but not limited to the scope of the mission, satellite design, instrumentation, data to be collected and re-entry procedures or otherwise, to prevent further space debris.
- The mission report must be between 30 to 50 pages,in Times New Roman or Arial, font size 12, 1.5 spacing.
- For the judges to better assess the concept, students must submit a video recording (not exceeding 10 minutes) of themselves presenting their report and explaining their project to the judges.
Prizes
Starter Category
Advanced Category
Special Awards
A Look Back at ISC 2022
Theme: Space Weather
Whilst everyone is familiar and has experienced the challenges pertaining to the weather on Earth, there is also weather in space. Space weather can be as or even more fickle than “Earth weather”. Similar to weather on earth, the sun is also responsible for changes in space weather.
Coronal mass ejections from the sun cause immense magnetic storms which alter the space weather surrounding the Earth. The changes in space weather that occur in the near-earth environment can cause adverse effects to both space and ground based technological equipment.
Examples of Effects Caused by Space Weather
- Aurora Borealis
- Disruption in telecommunication
- Loss of GPS
- Surges in electrical grids
- Radiation exposure to astronauts
- Damage to spacecraft
Starter Category
Design an experiment on board the Space Station to study the sun.
Open Category
Design a satellite mission to gather key data so as to observe the changes, their causes and patterns in the Van Allen Belts.
Facilitators
Adhitya
Gillian
Sponsor and Supporting Organisations
Be Our Sponsor
- Increase visibility for your organisation’s product and services via features on the digital marketing materials for the challenge.
- Anchor your company’s position amongst youths as a cutting-edge research and development organisation.
- Gain access to novel ideas and a highly engaged talent pool.
- Stay relevant to the youths and bee seen as a pillar of innovation for the region’s future.
Past Sponsors and Supporting Organisations
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
ISC Starter Category is open to youth between the ages 13 – 18 years old.
ISC Advanced Category is open to youth between the ages 15 – 25 years old. As long as you are within these ages as of 31 December 2022, you will be able to join, regardless of whether your birthday falls after the registration date.
Team size is fixed at 4 members in each team.
To form a team of 4, you can connect with other participants on the Space Faculty Discord server (https://discord.gg/f7JBTS7rMZ)
and/or receive updates on ISC Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/InternationalSpaceChallenge)
Yes. In the registration form, under the field “Schools/Institutions”, indicate “Independent”.
Yes, this competition is open to both local and international students.
Of course! We welcome students from all backgrounds and encourage diversity.
Some of our previous teams had diverse participants which included business students that were able to provide great insights when it comes to financial analysis and projections.
Don’t worry about it being too challenging, it really is manageable because there will be guidance from the technical experts. You can also look for a teacher from your school as a mentor if you need extra guidance.
We do also occasionally share materials relating to ISC topic on our ISC Facebook Page:
(https://www.facebook.com/InternationalSpaceChallenge) so you can follow us there as well.
A Gmail account is not compulsory, you can use any email handler as long as it can receive and send out emails.
Total registration fee is SGD60 per team (4 participants).
We only accept payment via Bank Transfer, Cheque, or Paypal. Please state your invoice number and team name in the remarks.
Teams are not required to visit Singapore to complete the challenge. Submission of mandatory deliverables are to be done online via a submission site which will be shared with participants closer to the date. However, if teams would like to attend the Awards Ceremony or participate in any in-person events, flights and accommodations will be at the team’s expense. Space Faculty will be happy to provide assistance and advice.
We will be sending out a Google Drive folder for each team to upload their projects when the submission deadline is approaching. The submission deadline is on 30 Dec 2022, 2359H (GMT+8).
Do note that late submissions will be penalized and you will only need to submit the Final Report. However, if you want your mentor or expert to look though a preliminary report, you can do so at your discretion.
Starter Category
25% – Technical Characteristics
30% – Creativity
15% – Effort towards Scientific Knowledge
15% – Scientific Poster
10% – Entry Submission (Presentation)
5% – Entry Submission (Report)
Advanced Category
30% – Technical Characteristics
30% – Creativity
15% – Concept Relevance
10% – Financial Report
10% – Entry Submission (Presentation)
5% – Entry Submission (Report)
Bonus Points
Attendance of workshops and seminars
Submission of computer simulation and/or mock-up
Most of the deadlines for ISC are in December which coincides with the school holidays, so students will have sufficient time to work on it.
We can put you in contact with our past participants so that you can get a better idea. Some of them will also be in Space Faculty Discord Server and will be more than happy to share about their experience
For Starter Category,
Mission report must not exceed 15 pages (including financial report e.g. financial analysis and projection, excluding annexes and supporting information)
For Open Category,
Mission report must not exceed 50 pages (including financial report e.g. financial analysis and projection, excluding annexes and supporting information)
It is not necessary to fill up all 15/50 pages – if you are able to present your ideas and project in less than 15/50 pages, the judges and technical experts will be happy with that as well.
The combined file size should not exceed 1GB.
This is an award given to the team that gives the best live presentation on stage to a closed-door panel of judges.
Details of how it will be conducted will be shared on a later date pending travel restrictions and the global COVID situation. Check the website, be on ISC’s Discord, Facebook to stay updated!
An email will be sent out to participants after the complete submission of key deliverables to invite participation for this award. As we have limited slots available, it will be selected by a shortlist panel.
The results will be released at the annual Awards Ceremony. Stay tuned for announcements on when the Awards Ceremony will be held!
All participants with submitted projects will receive a certificate of participation.
Yes, you are more than welcomed to join the competition again! Join the next one too!
Yes you can but unfortunately no refunds for the registration fee will be made.
While the topic of ISC might seem intimidating, it really is not! There will be lots of guidance along the way and it really is a great learning opportunity so we encourage you to finish the competition once you have registered.
Past Editions: Singapore Space Challenge 2021
Grand Prize Winner
THE RANGE ROVERS (New Zealand)
Distinction
LUNA RECON (Imperial College London, United Kingdom)
SEDS_LUNARBOT (Sri Lanka)
Merit
HITCHHIKERS (Sastra University, India)
MUNAR ROVER (Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore)
NEXUS AURORA (Belgium, United States, Canada)
Most Creative
ARETHUSA (Australia)
Best Video
eXulan (Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, India)
Best Mentor
MR LIM TOU BOON (Mentor of HELIO-D4, Cambodia)
Community Choice
MERLUNAR (Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore)
Women in STEM
ASTEROIDS (Crescent Girls’ School, Singapore)
BRONCO (Sri Lanka)
QUASAR (Cedar Girls’ Secondary School, Singapore)
AWS Award
LUNARAGE (American School, Singapore)
LUNARBOTICS (United Arab Emirates)
LUNARTICS (Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, India)
SAILOR MOONIES (Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente, Mexico)
SPACE NUTS (Eunoia Junior College, Singapore)
Special Mention
MR PARITAT THEANTHONG (National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thailand)
- Introductory Webinar
- Amazon Web Services Robomaker Workshops
- Industry Sharing by GEOshare, Ms Lindsay Papsidero
- Industry Sharing by SpaceIL, Mr Yonatan Winetraub
- Research Sharing by Dr Frankie Zhu
- Industry Sharing by MyelinS, Mr Zied Tayeb, and Space Industries, Mr Joshua Letcher
- Meet the Experts