NASA Beyond the Algorithm Challenge

NASA Beyond the Algorithm Challenge Site

Overview

The NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) seeks solutions to complex Earth Science problems using transformative or unconventional computing technologies such as quantum computing, quantum machine learning, neuromorphic computing, or in-memory computing.

NASA’s Beyond the Algorithm Challenge:
Novel Computing Architectures for Flood Analysis

WHY WE ARE RUNNING THIS CHALLENGE: NASA ESTO seeks innovative approaches to solve complex Earth Science problems rapidly and accurately using transformative or unconventional computing methods such as quantum computing, quantum machine learning, neuromorphic computing, in-memory computing, and others.

Breakthrough computing methods show promise in overcoming processing power, efficiency, and performance limitations of conventional computing methods. Once fully harnessed, these methods could transform many areas of American life.

Rapid flood analysis is one such area. Flood hazards affect personal safety and land use initiatives, directly affecting individual livelihoods, community property, and infrastructure development and resilience.

By beginning to apply these new methods in an Earth observation context, NASA is driving American leadership in pushing computing technology frontiers.

The Challenge

Provide solutions or potential solutions to improve flood water analysis by using one or more unconventional computing method.
As a participant, we suggest to:

1. Choose an audience for your solution.
2. Define a problem statement and potential solution to best address your audience’s need for rapid flood analysis.
3. Select and define a non-conventional computing method (such as quantum computing, quantum machine learning, neuromorphic computing, in-memory computing, or other non-conventional computing method) or hybrid approach with traditional computing that tests your solution.
4. Align your quantitative and qualitative design and output to the Judging Criteria. Consider the data available to test your solution.
5. Provide a 5-page White Paper and a 2-3 minute video explaining your approach. A suggested template is here.

Why should I participate??

1. Community Impact and Public Service: Gaining expertise in flood management enables participants to directly contribute to protecting and serving impacted communities, making a tangible difference in areas such as disaster preparedness, recovery, and resilience.
2. Environmental Stewardship: Floods are a natural part of many ecosystems. By analyzing flood occurrences, participants can play a crucial role in environmental and sustainability efforts.
3. Interdisciplinary Learning: Flood analysis is inherently interdisciplinary, blending elements of ecology, meteorology, geography, public policy, and engineering. This challenge offers participants a rich experience that integrates various fields of study, fostering well-rounded academic and professional development.
4. Personal Growth and Leadership: Engaging in flood management and related activities can foster personal growth, leadership skills, and a sense of responsibility. It encourages participants to tackle complex problems, work collaboratively in multifaceted teams, and develop innovative solutions to pressing environmental and societal concerns.
5. Networking and Collaboration: Participating in flood analytics initiatives often involves collaboration with government agencies like NASA, non-profit organizations, and private entities. This challenge provides participants with valuable networking opportunities, access to mentorship, and potential collaborations that can enhance their educational journey and career prospects.
6. Cross-Applicability: By focusing on one tangible challenge, participants gain a greater understanding of the challenges and opportunities posed by different unconventional computing methods, and will be able to apply their skills in new contexts.

What Comes Next?

1) Registration:

• The first step is to register for the competition. Registering early is the easiest way to stay informed.

2) Understand the competition:

• Background: Familiarize yourself with the background information.
• Competition Structure: Be aware that the competition has three phases, each with specific requirements and deadlines.
• Eligibility Requirements and Participation Agreement: Review Eligibility Requirements. Familiarize yourself with the Participation Agreement.
• Judging Criteria: Ensure your submissions align with these judging criteria.
• Compliance: Ensure that all submissions and participation follow the provided guidelines.
• Frequently Asked Questions: See the FAQs, which we will update throughout the competition.

3) Access the available resources:

• While not required for the competition, the resources include a curated data set to work from, and points to some optional simulators.

4) Stay informed:

• Join Slack to keep up to date on relevant announcements, important tips, share resources, connect with teams and other mentors and event staff.

You may also reach out to us through email at info@NASA-Beyond-Challenge.org.

5) Prepare and submit Phase One products:

• Prepare a 5-page White Paper:
• Adhere to the provided formatting guidelines, including font size, margins, and content organization. See formatting instructions here.
• A suggested white paper template is provided here.
• Prepare a 2 to 3 Minute Video:
• Adhere to the provided video rules. See instructions here.
• Suggestions for an effective video are provided here.
• Submit: Ensure all materials are submitted by the specified deadline.

6) If selected as a Finalist, more information will follow.

Good luck to all participants!

Background

NASA Background. NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives, and safeguard our future. The end-to-end capability of NASA Earth Science Division – from developing new technology to delivering actionable science –makes it unique among U.S. government science agencies. NASA’s recent Earth Science to Action strategy notes that “the reliance of governments, society and the economy on environmental information has increased significantly, which translates into demand for more sophisticated, more accurate, more trustworthy, and more actionable information at the fingertips of decision-makers, policymakers, and action takers. This also requires more complex science questions to be addressed, to better understand the Earth-human system.”

Challenge Background. NASA, however, faces challenges in speed or accuracy with classical models and compute systems. Recent advances in innovative and unconventional computing capability are beginning to offer new opportunities. Quantum computers offer a fundamentally different paradigm of computation and can solve certain classes of problems exponentially faster than their classical counterparts. However, not all types of calculations will achieve this improvement in speed. Likewise, quantum machine learning offers the potential to reduce required training data or produce more accurate models by adding quantum layers to neural nets.

The emerging field of neuromorphic, or brain-inspired, computing implements spiking recurrent neural network computation and holds significant promise for algorithm development optimized for high-speed, low power. In-memory computing bypasses the von Neumann bottleneck, saving time and energy for data-heavy processes like AI training and inferencing by putting compute and memory side by side.

Previous Challenge Baselines. A 2024 IEEE challenge asked participants to combine multi-source data to classify flood water surface extent. Participants were evaluated based on a binary water/no-water classification and resulting F1 score. Results of this previous challenge may be built upon using Quantum Machine Learning or other unconventional computing methodologies. Data from this challenge may be used as test input data for the challenge, but participants may also bring their own data based on current research or applicability to solution design and feasibility. More information can be found in the Resources section.

Competition Consists of Three Phases

Competition Structure
In Phase One, participants will submit a short 5-page white paper and a 2 to 3-minute video of their idea. Submissions will be evaluated per challenge Judge Criteria. Approximately 3 weeks after the submission deadline, up to 10 Finalists will be selected to present their ideas to a panel of judges at a live Pitch Event in September 2025.

In Phase Two, Finalists will upload any code solutions to GitHub or a similar code repository (if their solution includes code) and present their ideas to a panel of judges at a live Pitch Event. Up to three 3 winners will be chosen, with each winner being awarded a $100,000 prize. Note that the ownership and use of intellectual property arising from this competition remains with you.

In Phase Three, winners will be invited to attend a "Funding 101" webinar course. Additionally, winners will be contacted 12 months after Pitch Event completion for follow up surveys on further challenge research development and implementation.

Resources

1. 2024 IEEE GRSS Data Fusion Contest. This challenge asked participants to combine multi-source data to classify flood water surface extent. Participants were evaluated based on a binary water/no-water classification and resulting F1 score. The challenge utilizes Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical data which participants may download for free and optionally utilize as test data within the challenge. IEEE challenge details and data sets can be found here. (Please visit our challenge site for more detailed datasets.)
2. Below is a list of potential publicly available quantum simulators, which may be used by the participants for this challenge. This list is not inclusive of all publicly available quantum simulators, and NASA does not endorse any specific platforms for this challenge.

• IBM Quantum Platform
• Amazon Braket Features - AWS
• Quantum Simulator | Google Quantum AI
• Apply for NVIDIA Quantum Cloud Access | NVIDIA

Discussion & News
Look for relevant announcements, important tips, share resources, connect with teams and other mentors and event staff. New to Slack? Read: Getting started for new Slack users.

Click here to join the Beyond the Algorithm Challenge Slack Workspace.

Prizes
NASA may award: Up to three (3) winners will receive $100,000 each.

Schedule (Competition 11 weeks)

March 2025
March 19 - Challenge Launch

PHASE ONE

April 28, 2025
Informational Webinar

July 25, 2025
Submissions Due by July 25, 2025, at 8 PM EST (5 PM PST)

• 5-page white paper (including cover page)
• 2-3 minute video
• Note: Up to 10 selected Finalist submissions will be asked to upload solution code to GitHub or a similar code repository.

August 2025
August 15 - Finalists Selection

• Up to 10 Finalists selected for Pitch Event participation

PHASE TWO FOR FINALISTS

September 2025

• Code upload to Github due (if applicable)
• Finalists pitch event: Up to 3 winners selected from Pitch Event

PHASE THREE FOR WINNERS

October 2025

• "Funding 101" webinar course

October 2026

• Follow-up interview for feedback from competition

Submission Rules

Each Phase One submission will have two components: a 5-page white paper and a 2 to 3 minute video. Submissions that do not contain both components will be disqualified.

Note that the ownership and use of intellectual property arising from this competition remains with you. All details for Intellectual Property can be found on our Eligibility Requirements page.

Cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional collaborations are welcome. Participants from all backgrounds are urged to apply their expertise to develop innovative solutions that leverage NASA capabilities in this important area.
Click here for eligibility rules and participant agreement for the challenge.
Questions? Post them in Slack (#main channel) or email info@NASA-Beyond-Challenge.org

(Please visit our challenge site for more details on the white paper, video, and formatting rules)

Judging Criteria

Each criterion is evaluated based on five possible responses:
Strongly Disagree (1 pts), Disagree (2 pts), Neither Agree Nor Disagree (3 pts), Agree (4 pts), and Strongly Agree (5 pts)

• Creativity
• Technical Feasibility
• Impact
• Business Model Evaluation
• Presentation

(Please visit our challenge site for more details on each judging criterion)

POC

If you have any inquiries about participating in this competition, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@NASA-Beyond-Challenge.org.