What is Astro Pi Challenge?

The Astro Pi Challenge is an educational initiative that allows students to write computer programs and run experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) using Raspberry Pi computers. The challenge is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

The eligible countries are the ESA Members and some additional countries who have am agreement with ESA. You may find the list of these countries here .

 

What is the United Dojo?

United Dojo is a collaborative initiative among dojos of different countries.

 

If you are a champion of a dojo and you wound like to participate in United Dojo

1. Check if your country already participates in United Dojo
Country UD Champion Contact Information
Astro-Pi Country Czech Republic Tereza Hager, Petra Románková kontakt.cz@coderdojo.com
Greece Manos Zeakis manos@coderdojo.gr
Italy Laura Brandolini, Samuele Vecchi samuele.vecchi@gmail.com
Non-Astro-Pi Country Iraq Nadia Al-Aboody nadia.alaboody@gmail.com
Japan Kenji Yamamura toyama_nagae.jp@coderdojo.com
Nigeria Chinedum Ugorji, Damilola ‘Fash’ Fasoranti
Rwanda Damilola ‘Fash’ Fasoranti
South Africa David Campey david@coderlevelup.org
If yes, you can contact your country’s UD Champion in order to participate
If no, you can be your own country’s UD Champion. Please contact one of the existing UD Champions
2. You will be invited into the group of UD Champions in Telegram, where you will be informed about the preparation for this year’s activity. But in order for your participation to be finalized, you are required to join in at least of the biweekly meetings the UD Champions organize.
3. You can make a call to your mentors and ninjas and keep the names of those who wish to participate in United Dojo Mission Zero collaboration. If your country is an “Astro-Pi Country”, then there is no limit in participations. If not, your number of participations will be finalized after ESA Member’s participations have been declared (target deadline 31/12/2023). You may find the list of the countries that can participate in Astro Pi on https://astro-pi.org/mission-zero/eligibility
4a. Astro-Pi Countries: You will organize local sessions until the end of the year where ninjas will learn about Astro Pi Mission Zero Challenge and will create an Astro Pi Mission Zero program but will not submit it. You will organize your mentors and ninjas in subteams of 1 mentor and 2 ninjas and submit their informationa and their code on https://forms.clickup.com/24454585/f/qa9dt-10121/7HN3FWB8OTO7CT6VMY by 31/12/2023
4b. Non-Astro-Pi Countries: You will organize local sessions during January where ninjas will learn about Astro Pi Mission Zero Challenge and will create an Astro Pi Mission Zero program but will not submit it. You will organize your mentors and ninjas in subteams of 1 mentor and 2 ninjas and submit their informationa and their code on https://forms.clickup.com/24454585/f/qa9dt-10121/7HN3FWB8OTO7CT6VMY by 24/1/2024. The number of subteams you can create is affected by Astro-Pi Countries participations and this will be announed per country/dojo after 31/12/2023.
5. Some notes for the subteams

a. It is advised that dojos which participate for first time, do so by creating a restricted number of teams so that they can have a smooth experience

b.Each mentor is advised to participate in one team. If not possible, then a maximum of three teams could be used. Above that point, we have seen by experience that things get very difficult for the participations

c.Some subteams can have 1 ninja (for example if ninjas number is odd or if a ninja has a very distant age from the others). In such a case additional care for these subteams should be taken after the submission in collaboration with the person that merges subteams into teams.

6. After the deadline of non-Astro-Pi Countries subteams submission, you will be informed about the final teams. Every subteam of yours will be associated with a subteam of another country

7. The mentors of each team (1 for each country) will merge the codes from the ninjas in a way that all images are displayed. If you need assistance on how to do this you may request it from UD Champions.

8. The teams will participate in the Mega Event (10/2/2024?). The details of the Mega Event are described below. The teams can meet during the Mega Event or, if not possible, at another timeslot of their own convenience, and the final code will be demonstrated to the ninjas. The code will be submitted by the mentor of the Astro-Pi Country dojo during their common session or afterwards offline.

9. If the mentors of a team would prefer to organize their collaboration and meetings in another way, they can do it, but they should inform the UD Champions so that it is guaranteed that the rules of Astro Pi Challenge are not violated.

10. The teams will participate in Mega Event (10/2/2024?). This event consists of two parts

    1. On the first part all mentors and ninjas meet in an online party with games
    2. On the second part, two type of breakout rooms will be created. Country rooms and Teams rooms.
      1. Every team that would like to meet during the mega event can do so after the first part in a Teams room
      2. Country rooms will be available from the beginning of second part. Ninjas that are not making a Team meeting can enter a Country room where mentors from the respective country will present facts from the specific country.
      3. After Teams rooms are completed, these ninjas can continue to the Country rooms.

If you are a mentor and your dojo is going to participate in United Dojo

1. You will be assigned to a subteam of 2 ninjas

2. You will organize a local session where your ninjas will learn about Astro Pi Mission Zero and create the corresponding program but not submit it

3. You will provide the code to your champion, so that your subteam information and code will be submitted to United Dojo form. This should be done by 31/12/2023 for Astro-Pi Countries and 24/1/2024 for non-Astro-Pi Countries.

4. Your subteam will be associated with the subteam of another country, and the new team will have 1+1 mentors and 2+2 ninjas.

5. You will come in contact with the mentor of the other country and you will merge the ninjas’ codes. If you need assistance you may ask from your champion or a UD champion

6. You will organize an online session with all the members of the team during the Mega Event or on another timeslot

7. If your country is Astro-Pi Country you will submit the merged code

What is the Mega Event

The Mega Event is an event where all champions, mentors and ninjas of United Dojo meet.

This event consists of two parts

    1. On the first part all mentors and ninjas meet in an online party with games
    2. On the second part, two type of breakout rooms will be created. Country rooms and Teams rooms
  2.             a. Every team that would like to meet during the mega event can do so after the first part in a Teams room
  3.             b. Country rooms will be available from the beginning of second part. Ninjas that are not making a Team meeting can enter a Country room where mentors from the respective country will present facts from the specific country.
  4.             c. After Teams rooms are completed, these ninjas can continue to the Country rooms.