Space Data Atlas

Challenges

Create Health Monitoring Software for Astronauts on Space Missions

Intermediate. Human Exploration, Software, Space Exploration.

Build software that collects health indicators so astronauts on long missions can track radiation, bone, heart and behavioral health risks themselves and act on what they see.

Read the official challenge on spaceappschallenge.org

Individual astronaut health records are privacy-protected; plan on simulated crew data built from published ranges.

Your first hour

  1. Search OSDR for bone, heart and radiation studies to learn which indicators researchers measure.
  2. Use DONKI particle events to simulate when a crew's radiation risk rises.
  3. Define your health indicators and alert thresholds, citing the NTRS or OSDR sources you used.

Suggested datasets

In order of how useful they are likely to be. These are suggestions, not the official resource list.

NASA Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) Search API

NASA OSDR (Ames)

No login

Public spaceflight biology studies, including GeneLab omics and ALSDA physiology data, on bone loss, muscle, heart, immune and radiation effects. The search API returns study metadata as JSON; a separate Biological Data API supports detailed metadata queries.

endpoint https://osdr.nasa.gov/osdr/data/search

DONKI Space Weather Event API

NASA CCMC (Goddard)

No loginWorks in browser

JSON records of solar flares, coronal mass ejections and solar energetic particle events, the space weather that drives astronaut radiation exposure. Queries are limited to 60-day windows.

endpoint https://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/DONKI-API/get/SEP

NASA Life Sciences Data Archive (via NASA Life Sciences Portal)

NASA Johnson Space Center

No loginWorks in browser

Catalog of human and animal research from NASA missions, with study descriptions and measured variables. Some datasets are public, while privacy-protected astronaut data are available only through a formal data request.

endpoint https://nlsp.nasa.gov/explore/lsdahome

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) API

NASA STI Program

No login

Search API over NASA technical reports, conference papers and journal articles, many with full-text PDFs. Over a thousand records match microgravity combustion, and it also covers mission design and spaceflight health.

endpoint https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/search

Starter code

Search spaceflight bone-loss studiesPython
import requests

# Search public spaceflight biology studies (GeneLab + ALSDA)
params = {"term": "bone loss", "type": "cgene,alsda", "from": 0, "size": 5}
r = requests.get("https://osdr.nasa.gov/osdr/data/search", params=params, timeout=60)
r.raise_for_status()
hits = r.json()["hits"]
print("matching studies:", hits["total"])
for h in hits["hits"]:
    s = h["_source"]
    print(s.get("Accession"), "|", s.get("Study Title", "")[:80])
Search fire safety reportsPython
import requests

# Search NASA technical reports on microgravity combustion
params = {"q": "microgravity flame spread spacecraft fire safety", "page.size": 5}
r = requests.get("https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/search", params=params, timeout=60)
r.raise_for_status()
data = r.json()
print("total matches:", data["stats"]["total"])
for rec in data["results"]:
    print(rec["id"], "|", rec["title"][:90])
    # Record page: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/<id>
Recent solar particle eventsJavaScript
// Solar energetic particle events (a radiation hazard for crews).
// No key; CORS enabled; date window must be 60 days or less.
const url = "https://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/DONKI-API/get/SEP" +
  "?startDate=2026-08-06&endDate=2026-10-04";
const events = await fetch(url).then((r) => r.json());
console.log("SEP events:", events.length);
for (const e of events) {
  const instruments = e.instruments.map((i) => i.displayName).join(", ");
  console.log(e.eventTime, "|", instruments);
}
// Other event types: replace SEP with FLR (flares) or CME.

Related 2025 winners

Matched by theme. Study how they scoped the problem.

NASA's 2025 winners announcement