Kitchener, NASA has a problem, and it’s asking for your help.

The space agency launched its third annual International Space Apps Challenge this weekend, and for the first time ever, Waterloo Region took part.

The 48-hour “hackathon” challenged small teams from over all over the world to come up with unique solutions to earth and space-related problems.

“NASA as an organization only has limited resources in terms of what they can get done,” says Mark Reale, a local organizer.

So, the space agency put out a call for help. It designed 40 challenges based on real-world problems, gathered gobs of raw data and sent it to over 90 participating cities around the globe.

“This information just doesn't make sense to most people,” says Chris Kelly, a local participant working on an asteroid challenge. “When they think of asteroids they don't comprehend how big or what they are, so we really want to try to find ways to relate it to everyday items like pens, vehicles.”

After 48 hours of brain-storming, typing and modelling, the local teams were then asked to present their apps to a panel of judges.

The best team in Waterloo Region wins $5,000. The two best applications will then be judged against other top submissions from around the world.

Communitech hosted the local event.