SpaceHack 2023 Prompt

Format
- This event will have 2 rounds: the shortlist round and the final presentation
round.

- The event will start at 11AM on Friday and the shortlist will take place at 8AM on
Saturday, the next day. This means you will have 21 hours to work on your
submissions before the shortlist.

- The next round will be the final presentations which will be at 12 PM (noon)
on Saturday. This also means that the bulk of the work will be before the
shortlist round. We have planned our event in order to ensure that regardless of
a team’s qualification to the final presentations, they will walk away with
extensive work and a lot to show for their weekend.

- Other than these two rounds, teams will have 2 chances to get their work
comprehensively reviewed by the prompt makers and organizing staff from the
New Delhi Space Society (and potentially domain experts). These will be at 4PM
and 8PM on Friday. It is recommended, but not required, that teams spend the
first window (11AM to 4PM) on ideation, planning and road mapping and get a
solid review on their ideas at 4PM. This would then allow them to focus the
second window (4:30PM to 8PM) on preliminary execution and get some
reviews and feedback on their on-going work.

SpaceHack 2023 | New Delhi Space Society | ESYA 23

Instructions
The submission requirements for both the rounds are the same.

- A pitch (which is to be delivered as well as presented with a pitch deck).

- The pitch deck (on Google Slides) must be finalized and submitted via google
forms (link) 30 mins before the respective round (7:30 AM and 11:30 AM
respectively).

Prompt
Background
The year is 2023. For three years humans were unable to leave their homes and things
are rather slowly returning to normalcy. They were supposed to maintain a six foot
distance from every other person and wash their hands with alcohol-infused
substances every chance they got for years. Global economies are receding while
nature as we know it is at the brink of collapse. There are signs that life might just
never be the same again. No prompt here, just a reminder that while we might be alone
in the universe, you aren’t. Feel free to reach out to the SpaceHack organizers if you
need any help during this hackathon.

Read below for prompt:

Perhaps the most interesting fact in Indian space history is that there were no private
space agencies in space from 1947 to 2010. And in the last 13 years, we have seen the
birth of over 15 prolific space start-ups in India. This points to three things—first, the
bright future of the Indian space industry, second, the acceptance and encouragement
of such private entrepreneurial efforts by the government agencies including ISRO and
third, the need for enterprise and initiative in this space. This is the background of
SpaceHack at ESYA 23 hosted by the New Delhi Space Society.

Along with this prompt, you have been provided an article, worked on tirelessly by our
team, on the history of technology and business in the private Indian Space sector. We
HIGHLY recommend going through this and using it as a starting point for your team’s
progress in this hackathon. Here it is: The Indian Private Space Industry !

SpaceHack 2023 | New Delhi Space Society | ESYA 23

Your Task
Your task is to explore the need for entrepreneurship in the Indian space ecosystem in
the truest sense — by pitching your own entrepreneurial ideas for the Indian space
ecosystem. Exciting, and also daunting, we know. But also really exciting :)

For this, you will need to do the following:

- Study the Indian Space Industry and find technical problems to solve where a
start-up is needed or can make current (or projected) systems more efficient
○ Feel free to take inspiration from space startups all over the world solving
different problems; but remember to pick and work on a problem that is
relevant to the Indian context in a suitable way

- Solve the problem you have found

○ While we don’t expect fully fleshed out solutions, we do expect a level of
technical demonstrability of your solutions and comprehensive
explainability of the involved systems— what we mean by this is that we
expect you to develop the solution as much as is possible given the
problem you are solving e.g. working demo prototype for software,
simulations and design for hardware.

- Justify
○ Why the problem you chose is the most pressing one in the current
environment

○ Why your solution to the problem is better than other ways of solving the
problem you chose (use comparative analysis with other possible ways of
solving the problem, existing or hypothetical)

○ Your financials (show that even if you need an investment to begin with,
you can sustain yourself in the long-run using estimated revenues): give
explanations for each item

“Okay, but what do I work on, really?”

There are really hundreds of problems waiting to be solved, but many of the best ones
aren’t visible at first glance. Moreover, entire fields of opportunities lie dormant as
specific sectors get oversaturated with startups trying to solve the same problem in
different ways. While some of these problems are important and necessary to solve

SpaceHack 2023 | New Delhi Space Society | ESYA 23

(such as launch vehicles), other problems can be solved at the same time and may be
far more tractable, low-hanging fruit.

In the spirit of helping you find the ideal problem for you to solve, we’ve delineated a
few tracks of ideas. Note that prizes will be independent of the track, and be chosen for
their response to the prompt and its goals, in letter and in spirit. As such, these aren’t
rigid categories or ideas and if you find an important problem to tackle which is distinct
from the scope of examples provided, we strongly encourage you to go for solving that
comprehensively. Identifying with (and being passionate) about the problem you are
looking to solve goes a long way. Examples for:

Hardware: space-age communication systems and networks, subsystems (life

support, power, communication, etc.) for Gaganyaan or other ISRO missions,
services for commercial space companies, artificial gravity simulation, etc.

Simulations and designs are sufficient, but where possible nothing beats a
prototype.

Software: satellite data analysis (oceanography, space weather), exoplanet

search using ML, AR/VR simulation, etc.

Open Innovation: whatever you wish. You can do a hybrid of the two tracks, or create
your own path completely. The sky really isn’t the limit.

Conclusion
With ISRO laying down the groundwork, the time is finally ripe for private players to
step in and we believe India’s space sector is on the cusp of an explosion. Recognizing
this shift in the real-life space industry, teams must work as a hypothetical startup on a
problem they choose, identifying new use-cases and planning systems and
researching technology accordingly.

Really though, try to have a good and fruitful time and learn all you can—we hope your
experience participating is as fun as ours has been preparing this for you, and let us
know of any way we can further enhance the experience in the future.

Note: If you have any questions, please let the organizers know at
nssnewdelhispacesociety@gmail.com or other official communication channels, or
reach out to us on-site. We’ll be around.

Please also contact us if you have any concerns.

SpaceHack 2023 | New Delhi Space Society | ESYA 23

Submission Guidelines
Submit a PDF of your slides at 8AM on Saturday at a form link which will be shared
with you all.

Judging Criteria
- Thoroughness/Innovation (70%)

“Innovation is a very difficult thing in the real world” ~Richard Feynman

The team must describe all aspects of the technology in detail; you must show
an understanding of how it should work, including potential issues and pitfalls
and plans to counter them, and communicate your developments and findings.

- Business Plan/Costs (30%)

“Plans are useless, planning is indispensable” ~Dwight Eisenhower

A business plan is essential for getting started and generating revenues in the
long-term. Emphasis is given to competitive analysis and explorations of
markets, detailed costing, bootstrapping (a detailed strategy to get off the
ground) and long-term sustained revenue sources.

The submission must be the team’s own work —  plagiarized entries will not be
considered, and will lead to disqualification of the team from SpaceHack. You may use
images from the web, but please credit the source.

The judging guidelines criteria is no laundry list of requirements, however an emphasis

on these points is in your best interest.

May your fate be quantum entangled favorably and God speed!

SpaceHack 2023 | New Delhi Space Society | ESYA 23