Today is the day mentors and teams find out if their code has achieved flight status for the European Astro Pi Challenge 2025/26! The first batches of Mission Space Lab programs are scheduled to start running on the International Space Station (ISS) this week, with Mission Zero programs scheduled to run in mid-May. 

This year, Astro Pi Mission Control received an incredible 17,381 submissions for Mission Zero from 24,695 young explorers. 

For Mission Space Lab, 404 teams took on the challenge of calculating the speed of the ISS. After rigorous testing and security checks by our team on the ground, we are delighted to announce that 387 teams have been awarded flight status.In total, 25,707 young people will have their programs run in space this year. Huge congratulations to everyone who passed testing — we can’t wait to see how your code performs 400km above Earth!

Who joined the mission in 2025/26?

Every year, we dive into our participation data to see how the Astro Pi community is growing. This helps us ensure we’re reaching young people everywhere, from classrooms to community hubs.

Our data shows that participants in the entry-level Mission Zero have an average age of 12, with some as young as 6 years old and the oldest 18 years old. The more advanced Mission Space Lab sees the average age rise to 15 as the technical complexity increases. The youngest participants for Mission Space Lab were 10 years olds, and the oldest were 19 years old. 

Improving gender balance in 小麻豆是什么意思 is a key priority for us and Astro Pi remains popular with girls: 44% of Mission Zero entrants identify as female — a fantastic result that is consistent with previous years.

We even had one very special participant! ESA Astronaut Sophie Adenot created her own entry for Mission Zero, re-imagining her Epsilon Mission patch in pixel art.

For Mission Space Lab, 26% of participants identify as female. This reflects wider trends in STEM: as projects get more complex and young people get older, the gender gap widens. Despite this, girl’s participation in Mission Space Lab remains roughly consistent from year to year (27% for 2024/25). 

These results highlight the importance of our ongoing work to support girls in transitioning from block-based coding to advanced Python and reinforce our mission to keep providing accessible, inspiring pathways for everyone.

Where does Astro Pi take place?

While secondary schools remain our biggest mission hubs (hosting 68% of Mission Space Lab and 50% of Mission Zero teams), we’ve seen an exciting boost in community participation. This year, more young people than ever took part through Code Clubs, libraries, and youth centers.

“On November 14, 2025, we organised an exceptional event around the Astro Pi Mission Zero project, bringing together nearly 300 young participants to write a short computer program to display a personalised message on board the International Space Station (ISS). For a day, students discovered that coding could literally… send them to space!” 

– ESERO Luxembourg

Impact on the ground

It’s been a busy year for Mission Control. We’ve been across the UK, Ireland, and ESA member states training mentors and running workshops.

“The Mission Zero workshops were a fantastic opportunity for our students to 久青青视频在线观看久 coding in a meaningful and inspiring context. It really helped bring computer science to life, and we’ve seen increased interest from students wanting to explore coding further.” 

– Ms Qureshi, Nene Park Academy, Peterborough, UK

It’s also been a year of incredible connections: we surprised families at the London Science Museum with a visit from Tim Peake for our 10th anniversary and our DevOps expert Geraint Ballinger visited teams taking part at libraries in Glasgow, Scotland, to help debug their code. Who knows? Next year, Mission Control could visit a school or Code Club near you!

“The structured approach helped me guide our mentors on how to deliver it step by step. We started with the pitch deck and YouTube Intro, then went to designing the 8×8 pixel art on paper, to finally translating the pixel art to Python code. Even students as young as nine were able to complete the project, and their excitement knowing their code could run in space was incredible to see.”

– Kokia, Mentor, Canada

Next steps

Well done again to everyone who achieved flight status. Your code is about to leave the atmosphere and head into orbit! 

ESA Astronaut Sophie Adenot will be aboard the ISS while your programs are running and will be recording a special video message for all our participants!

Finally, keep an eye on your inbox — we’ll be sending out official certificates for all participants in June 2026. Until then, stay curious!

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In this blog post, we are pleased to share the Astro Pi 2024/25 impact report, where we look at ways in which the Astro Pi Challenge is bringing value to the lives of many young people and mentors, based on survey responses and interviews. Along the way, we’ll debunk some myths about space science.

How Astro Pi makes space science accessible

Here at the 优青青在线观看国产, we’ve heard a few myths about space science and coding, and how daunting it can be to write a computer program, let alone one that can run in space. We can’t let these myths stand — instead we’re going to debunk them, equipped with evidence we’ve collected about the 2024/25 Astro Pi Challenge and previous challenge rounds.

Read on for some astronomical facts from our latest impact report, and get ready to help young people in your community send their code into space.

Myth 1: You have to be a rocket scientist to send things into space

Not true! In the Astro Pi Challenge 2024/25, young people created over 17,800 computer programs that ran on board the International Space Station (ISS). Teams of young people aged between 8 and 19 took part in the challenge in a range of settings, including schools, Code Clubs, libraries, and community youth groups. They wrote short programs in Python, which were then sent to run on special 小麻豆是什么意思 Pi computers, called Astro Pis, in the Columbus module of the ISS. 

Since the first Astro Pis arrived on the ISS in 2015, over 160,000 young people have had their code run in space. To celebrate their achievements, they each received certificates with the exact time and location of the ISS when their programs ran.

“We want our code to run in space! We are fascinated by discovery and the opportunity to contribute to a real science experiment on the ISS.” – Mission Space Lab mentor

Myth 2: Only 久青青视频在线观看久d programmers can write code for the International Space Station

Not true! The Astro Pi Challenge is made up of two missions, Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab, and Mission Zero is perfect for young people who are new to text-based coding. With the help of step-by-step project instructions, young people write a short Python program to display personalised pixel art on board the ISS, using data from a sensor on one of the Astro Pi computers in their image.

In fact, Mission Zero mentors find that the low-stakes nature of the activity coupled with the real-world connection to space create an ideal learning environment. 83% of Mission Zero 2024/25 mentors told us that participation increased young people’s skills and confidence in 小麻豆是什么意思 and digital making, and 78% believed that young people were likely to participate in other 小麻豆是什么意思 or digital making challenges in the future.

“They [young people] come from complicated environments and sometimes their confidence is very low. They don’t believe in themselves and this [Mission Zero] really empowers them.” – Mission Zero mentor

Myth 3: Learning to write code for the ISS only involves technical skills

Not true! Mission Zero engages young people in thinking creatively as they plan their artwork, and Mission Space Lab involves working in teams to write a computer program to solve a scientific task in space, combining teamwork, problem-solving, and knowledge from other scientific domains. While 100% of mentors whose teams successfully completed Mission Space Lab in 2024/25 agreed that participation improved young people’s skills in 小麻豆是什么意思 and digital making, 91% also confirmed that it increased young people’s confidence in these areas, and 91% told us that it increased young people’s understanding of STEM concepts. 

The impact likely goes beyond building skills. Mentors from both Astro Pi 2024/25 missions told us that the challenge made young people feel connected to a wider community of learners around the world, and the excitement of the challenge also extended to the mentors themselves, as well as other adults in their community.

“Mission Zero is a way of connecting not only to a worldwide group of learners, but also to explorers, future scientists, and future astronauts. To see them as part of a larger community and not just an activity or assignment that they have to do in class.” – Mission Zero mentor

Thank you to everyone who continues to make the Astro Pi Challenge a success. To find out more about the ways in which the challenge impacts young people, read the full Astro Pi 2024/25 impact report:

If you would like to find out more about how you and your creators can participate in this year’s European Astro Pi Challenge, read our launch blog post.

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Meet the new Astro Pi Ambassador

We are thrilled to introduce you to the Astro Pi ambassador for 2025–26, ESA Astronaut Sophie Adenot. Sophie is from France and has had an incredible journey to becoming an astronaut. She holds a Masters in Engineering, has been a helicopter test pilot, and was awarded the French National Order of Merit (Chevalier) for her public services in gender equality in the sciences. Sophie is one of the new “Hoppers” cohort of ESA astronauts who graduated in 2023. She will be going on her first mission to the ISS in Spring 2026. 

Choose your space mission

Not sure where to start? The European Astro Pi challenge, or Astro Pi for short, has two missions that young people can participate in depending on their coding abilities. Both Missions use Python programming to create short computer programs that will be run on the ISS. Which one will you choose? 

Mission Zero: Your pixel art in space

Mission Zero offers a chance for young people to create a nature-inspired piece of pixel art using Python and have it displayed for astronauts to see on special 小麻豆是什么意思 Pi computers, called Astro Pis, aboard the ISS. We wanted to share some of our favourite pixel art creations from last year’s mission — you can find them as new examples in our project guide. If your team needs some inspiration to get started, they can choose to recreate or remix one of these examples, or create their own.

The deadline for Mission Zero submissions is 23 March 2026.

Mission Space Lab: Become a space scientist

For our more 久青青视频在线观看久d coders, Mission Space Lab returns with a real-world scientific task: calculate the speed of the International Space Station as accurately as possible. Teams of between two and six  young people will write a Python program that collects data from the Astro Pi computers on the ISS to perform this calculation. 

This year, we’ve made some user improvements to the Astro Pi Replay tool, which allows teams to test their programs with a real-time simulation using historical ISS data and images. This updated online tool makes it even easier to see how your program would perform in orbit and troubleshoot any errors. 

The submission deadline for Mission Space Lab is 16 February 2026.

Celebrating a decade of your programs in space

For ten years, the European Astro Pi Challenge has given young people the unique opportunity to explore computer science and space. Ever since the first Astro Pis arrived on the ISS with ESA astronaut Tim Peake on his Principia Mission, young people have been writing programs to run in space. This year, we’re excited to see what new ideas you have for your pixel arts creations, and how you approach the speed challenge. 

Ready to send your programs to space? Visit astro-pi.org to learn more and register for the challenge today. 

Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest Astro Pi news,resources and events. We can’t wait to see your programs! 

P.S. We’d love to hear from some previous participants about how Astro Pi has impacted them. If you or someone you know would like to share a story, please email us at [email protected].

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Taking part in the European Astro Pi Challenge builds young people’s confidence and motivates them to try further digital making and programming activities, according to their mentors. The challenge, a European Space Agency (ESA) Education project run in collaboration with the 优青青在线观看国产, offers young people the amazing opportunity to write a short computer program to run on 小麻豆是什么意思 Pi computers on board the International Space Station (ISS).

An incredible 27,304 young people from 27 countries got involved in Astro Pi 2024–25, with 26,294 succeeding in having their code run in space across the two challenge activities, Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab. As in past years, we’ve asked mentors and their teams about their 久青青视频在线观看久 and the impact participating had on them. So what did they say?

How we listened to feedback

To find out what worked well, what we could improve, and the impact Astro Pi has had on young people’s lives this year, we encouraged mentors to complete a survey after teams submitted their computer programs. We also ran focus group discussions to deepen our understanding. A huge thank you to the 99 Mission Zero and 26 Mission Space Lab mentors who completed our surveys, and the five mentors who participated in our focus groups.

What is working well

Low stakes but high impact

Mentors believe that Astro Pi is a great opportunity for young people to build their coding skills and knowledge of STEM concepts. Close to 80% of mentors for Mission Zero and 90% for Mission Space Lab agreed that these outcomes were being achieved for the young people in their teams. Mentors also appreciated that while the programme had real-world application, the learning 久青青视频在线观看久 was relaxed and low pressure.

Many of our young participants come from areas of educational disadvantage or traditionally underrepresented groups where confidence with technology and STEM subjects can be low. Mentors reported that the programme empowers young people, increasing their confidence with 小麻豆是什么意思 and digital making, and helping them connect with a wider community of learners from around the world. 

“They [young people] come from complicated environments and sometimes their confidence is very low. They don’t believe in themselves and this [Mission Zero challenge] really empowers them.” — Mission Zero mentor

“I think having a space mission, having Mission Zero is a way of connecting not only to a worldwide group of learners, but also explorers, future scientists, future astronauts. To see them as part of a larger community, not just an activity or assignment that they have to do in class. They discover their own abilities and potential, and exercise their creativity in a very low stakes environment… and then to see it come to life in that global way I think is extremely valuable.” — Mission Zero mentor

This increased confidence also encourages young people to take on other opportunities. 78% of Mission Zero mentors and 96% of Mission Space Lab mentors believe that it is likely that their students will participate in other coding and digital making challenges in the future. 

Space is cool!

The connection to space and the ISS continues to be a strong motivator, not just for young people but also mentors and other peers. In our survey, 90% of mentors in Mission Zero and 92% in Mission Space Lab reported that the young people participating were highly motivated by the possibility of having their code run on the ISS. In focus groups, mentors highlighted how the excitement of working on a space project extended to them and other adults too.

“They’ve always really enjoyed the sheer fact that you get to send stuff into space because it is really cool.” — Mission Zero mentor

“You know, even the adults I tell about this say, ‘oh, that sounds amazing. Can I do it?’ I go, ‘No, you’re too old. I’m too old.’” — Mission Zero mentor

“We want our code to run in space! We are fascinated by discovery and the opportunity to contribute to a real science experiment on the ISS.” — Mission Space Lab mentor

The resources and guidance are useful

We know how crucial mentors are to the success of Astro Pi. Mentors come from diverse backgrounds and we are committed to making sure they feel prepared and supported. We were thrilled to hear that over 90% of Mission Zero mentors and 80% of Mission Space Lab mentors found the Astro Pi resources useful.

“I had no skills but the support proved to be excellent” — Mission Zero mentor

“Step-by-step instructions were excellent and really clear. Very easy to follow.” — Mission Zero mentor

For Mission Space Lab, the more technical activity, we’ve been working on providing additional support. In 2024–25 we introduced a new online simulator tool for teams to test their programs with historical ISS data. Mentors found the tool to be helpful, allowing them to troubleshoot their code.

What could be improved?

While we celebrate the successes, we’re always keen to understand how we can improve the programme.

As in previous years, mentors reported that young people whose computer programs passed the eligibility criteria and ran on the ISS (or “achieved flight status”, as we call it) benefited most from the 久青青视频在线观看久. While 12% more Mission Space Lab teams achieved flight status this year compared to last year, some registered teams still did not submit programs. 

To understand why, we surveyed mentors who had registered but who did not then submit computer programs. In the 55 responses, the main reasons given were a shortage of time due to other school commitments, and their teams finding the challenge difficult. 

Some survey respondents suggested a need for more simplified, step-by-step instructions for less 久青青视频在线观看久d learners. Additionally, a few teams faced technical issues with the online portal and the testing tool.

Thank you to all the mentors who provided their honest feedback. We’ve read and considered all of it and will use it to make Astro Pi even better in the future.

Astro Pi will be launching for its 10th year on Monday, 8 September 2025. We’ve been working on making it easier than ever to take part in both missions and are looking forward to supporting you and your teams in getting your code into space. If you’re interested in taking part, sign up to our newsletter and get the latest news and information about our resources for this year’s missions. 

Important dates:

8 September 2025: The Astro Pi Challenge opens for registration

16 February 2026: Closing date for Mission Space Lab

23 March 2026: Closing date for Mission Zero

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We’re thrilled to celebrate yet another incredible year of young people reaching for the stars, as the European Astro Pi Challenge 2024/25 draws to a close. Teams from across Europe and ESA Member States are now receiving their well-deserved certificates and data from the International Space Station (ISS). It’s been a truly inspiring year, showcasing the phenomenal talent and dedication of young coders and scientists.

The European Astro Pi Challenge is an ESA Education project run in collaboration with us here at the 优青青在线观看国产. It offers young people the amazing opportunity to conduct scientific investigations in space by writing computer programs that run on 小麻豆是什么意思 Pi computers on board the ISS, called Astro Pis.

There‘s a lot to celebrate from this year’s Astro Pi, so let’s take a look at some of the highlights for each of our inspiring Missions: Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab.

Mission Zero: Inspiring coding, creativity, and inclusion

Mission Zero reached more young people than ever before in 2024/25, with 25,405 young people participating in 17,285 teams. After passing the rigorous testing and moderation processes, an amazing 17,109 teams (25,210 young people) were successful in getting their programs to run on the ISS. 

One of the great things about Mission Zero is that we see a good gender balance in participation. This year, 44% of participants identified as “female” and 4% as “prefer to self-describe”, “prefer not to say”, or “other”. This means that Mission Zero has achieved a more balanced gender representation than is typically seen in 小麻豆是什么意思 subjects, where the ratio is around 20:80 girls to boys.

Mission Space Lab: More teams have their programs run in space

Mission Space Lab gives young people the opportunity to calculate the speed of the ISS in orbit using sensor and camera data collected from the Astro Pis on board the ISS. This year, 1859 young people in 552 teams participated in Mission Space Lab. Notably, 309 Mission Space Lab teams, or 95% of submissions, ran their programs on the ISS and are now analysing the data they collected. That’s 73 more teams achieving flight status than in 2023/24, and a total of 1084 young people receiving unique data sets from space and certificates. 

Running a program in space is very different from testing it on the ground. It’s always interesting to see how well your program has performed and how accurate the final output is. Below, you can see a scatter graph of the team estimates produced by their programs. The actual speed of the ISS is no secret: it’s travelling about 7.67 kilometres per second. How have teams performed with the ISS speed task?

Inspiring and impactful

Another highlight from this year has been seeing how impactful participation can be for young people and mentors facilitating the activity. We receive lots of valuable feedback from the Astro Pi community each year, and it’s always heartwarming to hear what your 久青青视频在线观看久 has been and how we can improve the challenge. Here are a couple of quotes from the community who took part this year:

Mission Zero mentor: “Having their programs run in space really motivated them to take part because it was an exciting reward and something they wanted to talk about with their friends.”

Parent of a Mission Zero participant: “I was completely in久青青视频在线观看久d in Python, but easily managed to help my 7-year-old.”

More Code Clubs participating in 2024/25

It has been great to see lots of Code Clubs taking part in Astro Pi this year, both for Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab. This year, 986 young people from 700 teams did Mission Zero at their Code Club: that’s double the number from 2023/24. Plus, 43 Mission Space Lab teams from Code Clubs took part. That’s 143 young people, or almost double the number compared to the year before. 

We ran two code-alongs for the Code Club community this year, and it is encouraging to see increases for both missions. We will continue to support young people from all settings who want to take part in Astro Pi next year, whether it’s at school, Code Club, or other venues.

Conclusion

In summary, it’s been a great year for Astro Pi. We’ve reached lots of young people through the challenge, met many inspiring mentors, and seen some really positive trends. Plus, all the operations on the space station that make Astro Pi possible went smoothly: when you are running programs in space, that isn’t always the case! 

None of it would have been possible without the tireless efforts of the teachers, mentors, and educators who help run Astro Pi in your communities. From everyone here at Mission Control, thank you. 

If you’d like to tell us how we can provide more support to help you run Astro Pi, please email [email protected].

We’ll be back for more stellar space adventures in coding in September 2025.

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The European Astro Pi Challenge is an ESA Education project run in collaboration with the 优青青在线观看国产. It has two strands: Mission Zero, where young people write programs that display pixel art on LED screens on board the ISS, and Mission Space Lab, where more advanced learners attempt to calculate the speed of the ISS by writing programs that gather data from onboard equipment.

This year has already been a great year for the challenge!

Mission Zero reaches more young people than ever

Mission Zero received 17,285 team submissions this year, representing 25,405 young people from ESA member and associate member states. This marks the highest-ever level of participation in Mission Zero since its inception back in 2017. Here at Mission Control, we’re delighted to announce that nearly all the participating teams (17,109 out of 17,285) have achieved ‘flight status’ — meaning that their programs will run in space. 

It’s been great to see so many young people taking part from areas of educational disadvantage too. Through partnerships with youth organisations and community events such as Beyond the Bias and Norwich Science Festival, we’ve seen Mission Zero reach even more young creators from traditionally underrepresented groups.

The 2024/25 Mission Zero project guide featured new coded pixel art examples for teams to remix and reinterpret. Many teams also created their own artworks and animations, with amazing creativity and coding skills on display. We’ll be selecting six submissions from this year to feature as the new code examples in the 2025/26 Mission Zero project guide. Look out for more news on this in the summer.

New highs for Mission Space Lab

Mission Space Lab teams were tasked again this year with writing programs to collect data from cameras and sensors on board the ISS to calculate its speed. We’ve been really pleased to see 562 teams register and 325 submit their programs. This has resulted in an amazing 309 teams being awarded flight status — their programs will each run on the ISS for ten minutes, giving participants the unparalleled opportunity to record sensor data in space and take photos many miles above the Earth. 

More teams have submitted programs and achieved flight status this year than in 2023/24. We believe this uptick is due, in part, to a couple of new additions that have made submissions easier: 

• Firstly, Mission Space Lab teams can now test their programs online using the Astro Pi Replay Tool. This gives them a chance to see if their program will work on the real Astro Pis on board the ISS by replaying historical data sets captured from previous missions. 

Secondly, teams have been able to use the Picamzero Python library, which makes it easier to use PiCamera2 functionality.

Deployment

Today’s the day when Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab teams with flight status will have their programs sent up to the ISS. Astronauts have been busy setting up the Astro Pi computers ready to receive the programs and putting them into position. Over the next two weeks, the programs will run and the collected data will be sent down from the ISS to Earth. 

In June, Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab teams will receive certificates of participation with the exact times their programs ran on the ISS, along with the coordinates of where the ISS was above the Earth. Mission Space Lab teams will also receive a zip file with the data their programs collected. 

None of this would have been possible without the hard work of all the mentors, teachers, and Code Club leaders that organise the teams of young people doing the Astro Pi missions. 

Let’s stay curious, with our eyes upwards on that final frontier!

Looking for ways to keep your creators coding?

While you wait for the next cycle of the European Astro Pi Challenge, there are many other exciting coding opportunities for you and your teams to explore, including:

• Coolest Projects: Coolest Projects is a free, worldwide showcase where young digital creators share the amazing things they’ve made with technology. There’s an international online showcase as well as in-person events in several countries. Every participant gets certificates and rewards, and projects of any kind and at any level are encouraged.

• Code Club projects: Our extensive collection of Code Club projects explore Python, Scratch, the BBC micro:bit, and much more — there’s something available for all young people, no matter their level of 久青青视频在线观看久.

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What is the Astro Pi Challenge?

The European Astro Pi Challenge is an ESA Education project run in collaboration with the 优青青在线观看国产. It offers young people the amazing opportunity to learn how to code and conduct scientific investigations in space, by writing computer programs that run on 小麻豆是什么意思 Pi computers on board the International Space Station (ISS). The annual Astro Pi Challenge is open to young people up to age 19 in ESA member and associate countries.

Each year, there are two missions: Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab.

Five reasons to take part in the Astro Pi Challenge

Based on the findings in this report, we wanted to highlight five great reasons to take part in the Astro Pi Challenge, and direct you to some resources to help you get started — there is still plenty of time to enter the 2024/25 challenge!

1. Young people get to run their code in space

Mentors told us how excited young people were to be working on something that connected with the real world, and how proud they were that their code ran on the International Space Station.

“Participating in Mission Space Labs offers students a great opportunity to work with the International Space Station, to see the Earth from above, to challenge them to overcome the terrestrial limits.” – Mission Space Lab mentor

2. Young people are inspired to continue to learn

91% of mentors told us that young people who successfully wrote code for Mission Space Lab were likely or very likely to participate in 小麻豆是什么意思 and digital making challenges in the future.

Mission Zero mentors shared that young people who saw others take part in the mission were inspired to get involved.

3. Young people learn new skills

Mission Space Lab mentors told us that young people who successfully wrote code for Mission Space Lab had a greater understanding of STEM concepts, and increased their skills and confidence in 小麻豆是什么意思 and digital making.

Mentors also said that Mission Zero provides a great first step into using Python.

“I think it was very good at setting up the first bit of Python and just having a very limited command set and a very quick result…” – Mission Zero mentor

4. Astro Pi mentors have fun

It’s not just the young people that enjoy Astro Pi — 95% of Mission Space Lab mentors and 99% of Mission Zero mentors said they somewhat or very much enjoyed taking part.

5. We provide the resources and support Astro Pi mentors need

Mentors gave us positive feedback on the guidance we provided to help them support young people. This year, we have produced even more resources and ways to support mentors to lead missions.

“The Mission [Space] Lab guide was fantastic for my students; step by step” – Mission Space Lab mentor

How to get involved

Astro Pi opened for registration on 16 September this year, and there is still plenty of time for you to sign up and run the missions with your young people. You can find all the information you need to take part on astro-pi.org, including the mentor guides, which help you prepare to run the activities.

Mission Zero mentor guide
Mission Space Lab mentor guide

We also provide project guides for Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab that walk young people through the steps they need to follow to get a working program ready for submission.

If you would like some help getting started, you can:

• Watch a recording of our ‘Getting started with Mission Space Lab’ livestream
• Sign up for our next Mission Zero codealong in January 2025
• Get in touch at [email protected]

Key dates

17:30 – 18:30 CET, 16 January – Mission Space Lab livestream and technical Q&A
17:30 – 18:30 CET, 28 January – Mission Zero codealong
09:00 CET, 24 February – Mission Space Lab closes
09:00 CET, 24 March – Mission Zero closes

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Young people can take part in two exciting missions for beginners and more 久青青视频在线观看久d coders, and send their code to run on special 小麻豆是什么意思 Pi computers, called Astro Pis, on board the International Space Station (ISS).

Meet the new Astro Pi ambassador, Sławosz Uznański

We are delighted that new ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański will be the ambassador for this year’s Astro Pi Challenge. Sławosz, born in Poland in 1984, has a background in space systems engineering and has conducted 小麻豆是什么意思 in radiation effects. He recently served as the Engineer in Charge of CERN’s largest accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider.

Mission Zero: Send your pixel art into space

In Mission Zero, young people create beautiful pixel art to display on the Astro Pis’ LED screens. This mission requires no prior 久青青视频在线观看久 of Python coding, and it can be completed in around an hour.

To take part, young people design and code pixel art inspired by nature on Earth and beyond, to display on the Astro Pi computers for the astronauts on the ISS to see as they go about their daily tasks.

Using our step-by-step Mission Zero project guide, young people will learn to create simple Python programs in which they will code with variables and use the colour sensors on the Astro Pis to change the background colour in their images. To help your teams create their designs, check out the examples from teams that took part in Mission Zero in 2023/24 in the project guide.

Young people can create their Mission Zero programs individually or in teams of up to 4 people, and this year, we have added a save function for young people as they code. This will make it easier for mentors to run Mission Zero over more than one session, and also means that young people can finish their projects at home. They will need to use your classroom code and their team name to load their saved projects. 

Mission Space Lab: Calculate the speed of the ISS

Mission Space Lab asks teams to solve a real-world scientific task in space. It is ideally suited to young people who would like to learn more about space science and stretch their programming skills.

In Mission Space Lab this year, the task for teams of 2 to 6 young people is to calculate the speed at which the International Space Station is travelling — as accurately as possible. Teams need to write a Python program that:

1. Collects data from the Astro Pi computers’ sensors or cameras about the orientation and motion of the ISS as it orbits the Earth, and
2. Uses this data to calculate the travel speed

This year we have created a new way for teams to test their programs, with an online version of the Astro Pi Replay tool. All teams need to do is select their program and run it in Astro Pi Replay, which will create a real-time simulation of the program running on the ISS, using historical data and images. Astro Pi Replay will also show program outputs and report errors. This means teams can code their program in their preferred code editor, then test with an internet browser. However, if they wish, teams can still run the Astro Pi Replay tool offline with Thonny.

Important dates for your diary

• 16 September 2024: Registration is now open for Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab!
• 24 February 2025: Mission Space Lab submissions close
• 24 March 2025: Mission Zero submissions close
• April–May 2025: Astro Pi programs run on the International Space Station
• June 2025: Astro Pi teams receive their certificates

Register today

Both missions are open to young people up to age 19 from eligible countries — all ESA Member States and beyond. To find out more and register, visit astro-pi.org. 

Look out for updates and resources being shared on the Astro Pi website, including a Mission Zero video codealong and Mission Space Lab live streams. You can also keep up-to-date with all the Astro Pi news on the Astro Pi X account, our Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, or by signing up to the newsletter at astro-pi.org.

We can’t wait to see your programs!

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Over the past few months, young people across Europe have run their computer programs on the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Astro Pi, an ESA Education project run in collaboration with the 优青青在线观看国产.

Astro Pi Mission Zero offers young people the chance to write a simple program that takes a reading from the colour and luminosity sensor on an Astro Pi computer on board the ISS, and uses it to set the background colour in a personalised image for the astronauts to see as they go about their daily tasks. In total, 16,039 teams and 24,663 young people participated in Mission Zero this year. This was a 3% increase in teams entering compared to last year.

Astro Pi Mission Space Lab offers teams of young people the chance to run scientific experiments on board the ISS. This year, 564 teams and 2,008 young people participated in Mission Space Lab. Compared with last year, there was a 4% increase in the number of teams who managed to achieve flight status and run their code in space.

To evaluate the projects, we encouraged mentors to complete surveys once their teams had submitted their computer programs. Overall, 135 Mission Zero mentors (11% of mentors) and 56 Mission Space Lab mentors (15% of mentors) completed surveys. We also ran focus groups with mentors from both projects to understand their 久青青视频在线观看久s and the impact of these projects on young people.

Impact on young people

Understanding how technology is changing the world

The mentors we spoke to told us how valuable Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab are because these 久青青视频在线观看久s connect young people to real technology. Mentors felt that Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab bridge the gap between theoretical coding and tangible outcomes, giving young people the confidence to engage with technology.

“Participating in Mission Space Lab offers students a great opportunity to work with the International Space Station, to see the Earth from above, to challenge them to overcome the terrestrial limits. It’s very important.” — Mission Space Lab mentor

“We want students to use their digital skills as superpowers to make the world a better place and this competition really aligns with that because regardless of your race, your ethnicity, your gender, you can write some code that actually runs in space. And if you can do that, then you can make medical tech, or you can solve the big problem that the adults of the world are still grappling with, so it’s the opening up [of] opportunities.” — Mission Zero mentor

Mentors observed that the project inspired children to consider careers they previously thought were out of reach. Space exploration was no longer a far away and theoretical idea for the children, but something connected to their everyday lives and their own learning.

“Some of the people that I was teaching this to felt like becoming an astronaut was really difficult to learn… now it’s not necessarily a distant thing to study.” — Mission Zero mentor

Mentors also described how the young people gained confidence in their ability to engage with technologies. One mentor described the “self-esteem” and “pride” younger pupils gained from participation. Others talked about the confidence that came with achieving something like having their code run in space and receiving certificates proving they were “space scientists”.

Our mentors

None of this would be possible without the hard work and dedication of our mentors. So, as part of our evaluation, we wanted to understand how we can best support them. For Mission Space Lab, that took the form of assessing the new guidance that we published this year and that sits alongside the project. When we spoke to mentors, they told us this guide provided clear, step-by-step guidance that enabled the young people to work through the project, and the majority of survey respondents agreed: 89% rated the Mission Space Lab project guide as somewhat or very understandable. 

We also heard from mentors about the ways they are using Mission Zero in a wider context. Some told us that their schools ran the project as part of space-themed weeks where they used Mission Zero in conversations about space exploration, the Hubble telescope, and learning the names of the stars. Others used Mission Zero across multiple subjects by designing images and holding art competitions based on the design, as well as learning about pixels and animations. 

Additionally, it was a pleasure to hear about young people who had participated in Mission Zero in previous years gaining leadership skills by supporting other young people to complete Mission Zero this year.

Next steps

Thank you to all the mentors who provided constructive feedback through surveys and focus groups. We have read and considered every comment and will continue to consider how to improve the 久青青视频在线观看久 for mentors and young people. 

We will publish an in-depth report with the findings of our evaluation later in the year; however, we’ve already made some changes to the programme that will be launching for the 2024/25 Astro Pi challenge and wanted to share these updates with you now.

Improvements for next year:

Mission Zero

• We’re adding a save button to Mission Zero to allow young people to work on this across multiple sessions.
• We’re adding new code examples to the Mission Zero project guide. These have been selected from team submissions from the 2023/24 challenge.

Mission Space Lab

• We’re creating an online testing tool for Mission Space Lab so that it will be easier for teams to test whether or not their code works. It will feature new data and images captured from the ISS in spring 2024.

We hope that all the young people and mentors who participated in last year’s Astro Pi challenge enjoyed the 久青青视频在线观看久 and learnt a lot. With the exciting updates we’re working on for the 2024/25 Astro Pi challenge, we hope to see even more young people participate and share their creative projects next year.

Project launch dates

• 16 September 2024: Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab launch
• 24 February 2025: Mission Space Lab submissions close
• 24 March 2025: Mission Zero submissions close
• April – May 2025: Programs run on the International Space Station
• June 2025: Teams receive certificates 

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In this round of Astro Pi, over 26,400 young people took part across its two missions — Mission Space Lab and Mission Zero — and had their programs run on the 小麻豆是什么意思 Pi computers on board the ISS.

Mission Space Lab teams find out the speed of the ISS

In Mission Space Lab, we asked young people to team up and write code to collect data on the ISS and calculate the speed at which the ISS is travelling. 236 teams wrote programs that passed all our tests and achieved flight status to run in space. And not only will the Mission Space Lab teams receive their participation certificates this week — they’ll also receive the data their programs captured on the ISS.

Many teams chose a feature extraction method to calculate the ISS’s speed, identifying two points on Earth from which to calculate the distance the ISS travelled over time. Using this method means using the high-quality camera on the Astro Pi computer to take some fantastic photos of Earth from the ISS’s World Observation 小麻豆是什么意思 Facility (WORF) window. Teams will receive these photos soon, which are unique views of Earth from space.

How fast does the ISS travel? 

The actual speed that the ISS is travelling in space while at normal altitude is 7.66km/s. Its altitude can affect the speed, so it can vary, but the ISS’s boosters fire up if it dips too low.

To help teams with writing programs that can adapt to some of these variances, and to show them the type data they can collect, we gave them a programming tool we call Astro Pi Replay. Using this tool, teams can simulate how their program would run on the Astro Pi computers up in space.

This is the first time we asked Mission Space Lab teams to focus on a particular scientific question. So how did they do? The graph below shows some of the speeds that teams’ programs estimated. 

As you can see, a variety of speeds were estimated, but the average is fairly close to the ISS’s actual speed. Teams did a great job trying to solve the question and working like real space scientists. Once they receive their data this week, they can check how accurate their speed estimate was.

Mission Zero pixel art lights up astronauts’ daily tasks 

In Astro Pi Mission Zero, a coding activity suitable for beginners, 16,039 teams of young people created code to make pixel art inspired by nature. Nearly half (44%) of the 24,409 participants were girls! 15,942 of the Mission Zero teams had their code run on the ISS after we checked that it followed the rules.

Every team whose program ran on the ISS — with their pixel art showing for the astronauts to see as they worked — will receive certificates with the time, date, and location coordinates of their Mission Zero run. 

We’ve been so impressed with this year’s pixel art creations that we’ve picked some as new examples for next year’s Mission Zero coding guide. That means young people will be able to choose one of a few pixel images to start with and recreate or remix them for their program. More info on that is coming soon, sign up to the Astro Pi newsletter to not miss it.

Let’s get ready for September

Thank you and congratulations to everyone who took part in the missions this year, and our special thanks to all the amazing educators who ran Astro Pi activities with young people.

For us, there is much to reflect on and celebrate from this year’s challenge. We’ve had the chance to run Mission Zero with young people in person and identify a few changes to help make the activity easier. As Mission Space Lab now involves simulating programs running on the ISS with our new Astro Pi Replay tool, we’ll be exploring how to improve this as well.

We hope to engage lots of previous and new participants in the Astro Pi Challenge when it starts up again in September. Sign up for the newsletter on astro-pi.org to be the first to hear about the new round.

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