Discovering Business Ideas with Satellite Data... Recruiting Teams for 'Space Hackathon'

Three Categories Including Satellite Big Data and Business Models

Total Prize Money of 35 Million Won

The '2026 Space Hackathon,' an event aimed at discovering new services and business models using satellite data, will be held. The hackathon is expanding its role as a platform that connects ideas in the space sector with actual business opportunities and research, as evidenced by last year's winning ideas being developed into official government research and development (R&D) projects.

The Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) announced on the 11th that it will recruit teams for the '2026 Space Hackathon' from September 14 to November 5, targeting university and graduate students, as well as employees of startups, small and medium-sized enterprises, and mid-sized companies.

Space Hackathon poster (partial). Provided by Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA)

There are three categories for participation: ▲ Ideas for utilizing satellite data big data ▲ Satellite utilization business models ▲ Ideas for micro-satellite missions. Participants set their own detailed topics within these categories. Last year, a total of 114 teams and 284 participants from universities and companies took part in the event.

Notably, a project applying last year's grand prize-winning idea was selected for the government's Future Convergence Science and Technology Development Project. Several ideas from the competition were also published as papers in the Journal of the Korean Society of Remote Sensing.

The preliminary round will take place on November 11, with the finals to be held on November 25–26 at Gyeongsang National University. The total prize pool is 35 million won, with 5 million won in prize money and a special award from the KASA Administrator granted to the grand prize winner in each category. The team with the overall best achievement among all participants will receive a special award from the Minister of Science and ICT, along with an additional 5 million won.

O Tae-seok, Administrator of KASA, said, “In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), the value of data generated by satellites is limitless in creating value for the lives of people and industries,” adding, “We will actively support the development of excellent ideas from the competition into outstanding business models.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.