TopCoder has launched two developer competitions that are the initial phase to build a fully functioning iPad app from concept to deployment using TopCoder’s open innovation community and process. What makes this contest interesting is the fact that NASA sponsored it through its NASA Tournament Lab (NTL).
NASA’s Nutritional Biochemistry Laboratory in the Human Health and Performance Directorate at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas is looking for an iPad-based solution that monitors the dietary intake of crews during missions to make sure they’re consuming enough calories while in space. It is said that using nutrition and dietary patterns can prevent negative conditions associated with space-flight with research in other areas (like cardiovascular, muscle, bone, immunology and radiation) highlighting nutrition as integral to the mission success. These efforts will contribute to the safe human exploration of space.
The ISS FIT (Food Intake Tracker) iPad app challenge follows the recently completed Longeron Shadowing Optimization Challenge, a $30,000 open innovation competition to make the energy-gathering solar arrays of the International Space Station (ISS) more efficient by eliminating the shadows it casts upon itself at different points during orbit. More than 4,000 individuals registered for Longeron with 459 competitors producing 2,185 unique solutions in less than three weeks…