Astro Pi 2020-21 kicks off

Level: from beginners up to 19 years old

The European Astro Pi Challenge is back and better than ever, with a brand-new website, cool new key visuals, and more inclusive entry criteria!

Run by ESA in collaboration with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Astro Pi gives young people the opportunity to write their own computer programs and run them on two Raspberry Pi units on board the International Space Station (ISS).

The European Astro Pi Challenge 2020-21 is made up of two complexity levels: Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab.

Mission Zero is designed for beginners/younger participants up to 14 years old. Consisting of writing a simple program to take a humidity reading on board the ISS and communicate it to the astronauts with a personalised message, Mission Zero can be completed in a single session of around an hour and doesn’t require any previous coding experience or special hardware. It’s a perfect activity for coding clubs or groups of students who are beginners to programming and digital making, and all participants who follow the challenge rules are guaranteed to have their programs run in 2021.

Mission Space Lab is aimed at more experienced/older participants up to 19 years old, and it takes place in 4 phases over the course of 8 months. The challenge is to design and write a program for a scientific experiment that enhances our understanding of either Life on Earth or Life in Space. The best experiments will be deployed to the ISS, and teams will have the opportunity to analyse and report on their results.

Get involved!

Learn more, access project resources and join the European Astro Pi Challenge 2020-21 at the new and improved Astro Pi website.  

Registrations open: 14 September 2020

Deadline for Mission Space Lab entry submissions: 23 October 2020

Deadline for Mission Zero entry submissions: 19 March 2021