Space App Connect Guide

Space Apps Connect serves as the collaborative communication forum for the NASA Space Apps Challenge community.

To participate in Space Apps Connect, you must be registered for the 2024 NASA Space Apps Challenge. You can register on the 2024 Hackathon Page. For further guidance on registration, please visit the Participant FAQ.

For a step-by-step video, check out Navigating the Hackathon: Space Apps Connect.

Space Apps Connect is completely FREE for everyone to use. Space Apps Connect will be hosted on GitHub Discussions. Joining Space Apps Connect is optional but highly encouraged. The platform allows you to connect with other hackathon participants as well as with Local Leads, Navigators, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), Global Collaborators, and the NASA Space Apps Global Organizing (GO) Team. Use this forum to ask questions about the challenges and data and enjoy learning from the NASA Space Apps community!

FOR MORE INFORMATION: If you have questions that are not addressed in this guide or in the other guides located on the Resources page, contact the GO Team at [email protected]. For technical assistance, email [email protected] with a specific description of your problem.

Please note that some of the images used in this guide may not be exact replicas of the platform that will be used for the 2024 NASA Space Apps Challenge.

Space Apps Connect is a professional space. At all times, all users are responsible for maintaining professional decorum and treating each other with respect and dignity. Bullying, discrimination, or harassment on any basis will not be tolerated. You can find our Space Apps Values on the About Page. If you experience or witness discrimination, harassment, or bullying within Space Apps Connect or during the NASA Space Apps Challenge, or have any other concerns, you may contact your Local Lead or the NASA Space Apps GO Team. Local Leads may raise concerns to the GO Team. For any concerns regarding your Local Lead or to contact the GO Team directly, please email [email protected]. The GO Team will take appropriate action, which may include warning or expelling the offending participant from the event.

Once you are registered and logged in to your account, you can access Space Apps Connect by clicking on the “Space Apps Connect” link under your profile icon dropdown, which can be found at the top right corner of the Space Apps website.

To post or read discussions in Space Apps Connect, you must be logged into GitHub. If you have not yet created a GitHub account, please follow the instructions below.

Creating A GitHub Account: If you are new to GitHub, you will first need to create an account. Please note: Participants who are under the age of 13 cannot use GitHub. Participants who are between the ages of 13 and 17 are required to have a parent or legal guardian create their GitHub account and must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian at all times while in Space Apps Connect. If GitHub learns of any User under the age of 13, they will terminate that User’s account immediately. If you are a resident of a country outside the United States, your country’s minimum age may be older; in which case, you are responsible for complying with your country’s laws. By using Space Apps Connect, you are agreeing to GitHub's Terms of Service.

While on www.github.com, select the “Sign Up” button at the top right of the screen and follow these steps:

1. Enter your email and create your unique username and password. We recommend using the same email address as your NASA Space Apps account.

2. GitHub will ask if you would like to receive product updates and announcements via email and require you to verify your account by completing a CAPTCHA test. Once you have completed the form and CAPTCHA test successfully, select “Create Account."

3. You will then verify your account by entering a code that was sent to your email. Find the code in your email inbox and enter it in the prompt.

4. Answer the questions about your team size and whether you're a student or teacher. This information is optional; it is collected solely by GitHub and will not impact NASA Space Apps Challenge judging.

5. Answer the prompt about GitHub features you're interested in, this question is optional. You can skip it by selecting "Continue."

6. Finally, select the FREE GitHub plan. You do not need any other plan to be able to participate in Space Apps Connect! If you are prompted or suggested to purchase something while using GitHub, please understand that NASA is not responsible for any purchases you make. You do not need to make any monetary purchases to fully experience everything Space Apps Connect has to offer!

How to Access GitHub

Using GitHub on Mobile: You can download the GitHub mobile app on Google Play or the Apple Store. Once you have downloaded the app, open it, and sign into your profile. If you have not yet created an account, please see above for a detailed walkthrough.

Using GitHub on Desktop: To access Space Apps Connect via web browser, go to www.github.com. Sign in to GitHub at the top right of the page. If you have not yet created a GitHub account, please see above for a detailed walkthrough.

How to Find Space Apps Connect On GitHub: You must be logged in to access the content in Space Apps Connect and participate. You can access Space Apps Connect in the following ways:

• Go directly to www.github.com/nasa/spaceapps/
• Search “nasa/spaceapps” in the search bar on GitHub

Space Apps Connect Etiquette:

• Before creating a post, please search for similar discussions. This helps prevent duplicate questions and reduces creating an unnecessary discussion when a similar discussion already exists. Please read the “How to Search for a Discussion” section before creating your post to familiarize yourself with how to use the filters to search for discussions.
• When writing the title of your post, please make sure that it is clear, concise, and summarizes what you are posting. This will help the GO Team identify which labels to attach to your post and will allow others to find and respond to your posts as quickly as possible.

How to Search for a Discussion: If you have a question for the Space Apps community, first search all of the discussions to see if someone else has asked the same question. To begin your search for discussions, follow these steps:

1. Click on “View all discussions” above the category names on the left-hand side.

2. Select the “Filter” button and select “All." This allows you to see all discussions regardless of their status (open, closed, locked, unlocked, answered, unanswered).

3. Click on the label filter to select labels you think would apply to the discussion you are looking for. You can also use the search bar within the label filter to find a specific label. For example: for a participant that has a question related to challenge #15, they would select the “Challenge 15” label. You can select more than one label for your search.

4. You can select multiple labels. When you select multiple labels, only the discussions that contain all labels you select will appear in the results. If you select too many labels, there may be no discussions that match your query.

5. If you want to remove a label you have selected, go back to the label filter and click on the label to remove. In the previous example, if a participant decides they do not want to filter by the Challenge 15 label, then they can go back to the label filter and deselect the “Challenge 15” label. You can also click on “View All Discussions” in the category section to remove all filters you have applied.

How To Post on Space Apps Connect: On the left-hand side of the Discussions section, you will see all of the Space Apps Connect categories. The only category you cannot post in is the “Announcements” category; however, please check this category for important updates throughout the hackathon.

The content of your post will determine which category it should go in. For example, if you have a question about a certain challenge, you would post that question as a discussion under the “Challenges” category. More detailed descriptions of the categories can be found below.

You can start a new post from the "All Discussions" page or the category that you’d like to post in directly.

1. Click on the “New discussion” button on the top right of the screen.

2. If you are starting on the "All Discussions" page, a page will open asking you to select the discussion category. Select “Get started” next to the appropriate category.

3. Add a title and your content, click the green “Start discussion” button to post to GitHub Discussions.

4. If you want to move your discussion into another category, before or after you post, you can select the “choose a different category” above the Discussion title section and select a new category.

How to Comment on a Discussion: You can join a discussion by clicking on the post you would like to comment on, then enter your response into the box at the bottom of the page. It will either say “Add a Comment” or “Suggest an Answer.”

How to Reference Another Discussion or User: GitHub allows you to reference other discussions and mention other users in your comments and posts. If you want to reference another discussion, follow the steps below:

1. Click on the word bubble icon in the content section of your discussion/reply/comment.

2. To reference a certain discussion, start typing out the title of the discussion and it should pop up. Once the correct discussion you are referencing pops up, click it, and it will add the discussion reference number to your comment.

3. In the below example, the User is referencing a discussion that is titled “Check out the Participant FAQ!”

4. Once you have selected the correct discussion you want to reference and are satisfied with your post, select the green button in the bottom right of the content section (the green button could be named “Comment,” “Start discussion," or “Reply” depending on the type of post you are creating). The reference number in your discussion will be clickable and point back to the referenced discussion.

5. If you want to mention another user in your discussion, use the @ symbol followed by the user’s GitHub username. Please be courteous and refrain from spamming usernames.

How to Close a Discussion: Once your discussion has been answered or is no longer relevant, please make sure to close the discussion. This helps reduce the number of discussions present in the active section of the GitHub Discussions page. To close your discussion, click on your post and scroll down to the comment section. You can either click on “Close discussion” or select the down arrow to choose the reason for closing your discussion.

JOIN SPACE APPS CONNECT