BRAVO 1 Hackathon by U.S. Space Force Tech. Sgt. James Hodgman
August 4, 2022
More than 140 American citizens from four
countries descended upon Patrick Space Force Base for the BRAVO 1
Canary Release Hackathon July 18-22, 2022.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Nathan Motz, 45th Weather
Squadron, delivers a mission briefing to participants of the
BRAVO Hackathon during a tour the Morrell Operations Center
on July 19, 2022, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station,
Florida. The event brought engineers, scientists, and coders
together from four countries to solve problems with the
launch mission. (U.S. Space Force photo by Amanda Inman)
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The event, which also featured activities
at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, and Eglin AFB, Florida, was
designed to bring people together from a variety of backgrounds
including the military, industry, and academia to develop solutions
that enhance mission capabilities for the Department of Defense.
Members from all branches of the U.S. armed forces, some
traveling from Korea and Japan, joined engineers, scientists, and
coders from across the United States for the Hackathon, which for
the first time, was held at three bases simultaneously.
“Future success in conflict is going to be based on how well we can
leverage data,” said Stuart Wagner, the Air Force’s chief digital
transformation officer. “The speed at which we are able to transfer
data from communication systems and weapons systems so we can make
decisions will allow us to out-maneuver our adversaries. We believe
this will help us win future fights.”
At Patrick, 16 teams
worked to develop numerous innovations that could enhance launch
operations.
U.S. Air Force Capt. Alex Straub, 96th Test Wing
Seek Eagle Office stability and control engineer at Eglin AFB and an
Air Force Phantom fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, joined four other fellows to develop a software
prototype that could forecast launch scrubs.
“Our project
compiles weather data and historical launch data at Cape Canaveral
Space Force Station to see if we can assess those parameters and see
if there is any correlation between them that would enable us to
predict when a launch is going to scrub or not,” Straub said.
In less than a week, Straub’s team assessed more than 32 million
data points as they worked to compile the information they needed
through hours of research.
 Participants of the BRAVO 1 Hackathon review data
on July 18, 2022, at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida. The event brought engineers, scientists, and coders together from four countries to solve problems with the launch mission. (U.S. Space Force photo by Amanda Inman)
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“The goal is to design a model that can
tell if conditions are trending toward what previously resulted in a
scrub,” she said. “It would be phenomenal if we could provide that
forecast several hours before or even days before a launch.”
Every time a launch is cancelled, otherwise known as a “scrub,”
transporting astronauts and payloads to the International Space
Station or satellites into orbit is delayed.
In the early morning hours of Halloween in 2021,
NASA’s and Space X’s Crew-3 mission was scrubbed due to weather
after four astronauts had boarded the Crew Dragon capsule Endurance.
At the time, the 45th Weather Squadron gave an 80% favorable
chance for liftoff. However, a large storm system which brought
elevated winds and waves over the Atlantic Ocean resulted in Crew-3
staying on Earth for the spooky holiday. They would not be launched
into space until Nov. 10, 2021.
Straub said her team hopes
to develop a prototype that could provide a 12-hour launch/scrub
window so planners would be better able to plan for launch missions.
Other teams worked on solving a range of issues such as improving
radar, weather forecasting, as well as tracking and identifying
radio signals.
“This has been amazing,” said Lt. Col. Shyam
Munshi, Space Launch Delta 45 director of innovation and the leader
of the Forge, Patrick SFB’s innovation hub and the site of the
Hackathon at Patrick. “Everybody here, regardless of rank or
affiliation could be the catalyst of amazing change.”
For
this hackathon, Munshi said, organizers asked people from a variety
of backgrounds to evaluate problem sets that SLD 45 is having so
they can bring in different viewpoints to start solving some of
those problems.
“We had 144 people participate in this
event, which was awesome,” Munshi said. “We gave them two problem
sets to work through and they started identifying subsets of
problems, before long, we had nine problem sets, of which seven were
generated by the teams working to solve the two main ones. That was
possible because of the intelligence and different viewpoints in the
room.”
An innovative mindset and a constant focus on
enhancing capabilities is a priority for SLD 45 and the Space Force,
Munshi said, because the “launch operations tempo is not slowing
down.”
Since January 1, 2022 ... SLD 45 has supported 32
launches at a record-setting pace. The Delta is on pace, with
support from NASA and Space X, to exceed 60 launches in one year.
Munshi stressed the Space Fore must remain focused on innovation
and he wants the American public to know the service members,
government civilians and contractors at SLD 45 are doing all they
can to ensure a competitive advantage for the United States.
“The threat is real, and we are focused on it,” Munshi said. “We are trying new
things, and we are being smart, diligent, taking deliberate steps
based on today’s environment and technology and assessing the
landscape of what’s possible today. We are also deliberately
choosing where to spend our resources in ways that bring quicker
advancements, which is what the Hackathon is all about.”
Wagner said several organizations made the Hackathon possible and
thanked them for doing so. He gave special thanks to the following
organizations:
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350th Spectrum Warfare Wing
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Air Combat Command
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Secretary of the Air Force Chief
Information Office
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Secretary of the Air Force Special
Programs Office
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Secretary of the Air Force Special
Access Program Central Office
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Office of Secretary of Defense Digital
and Artificial Intelligence Office
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Cyberworx
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Space Launch Delta 45
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U.S. Space Force Chief Technology and
Innovation Office
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Department of the Air Force Chief Data
and Artificial Intelligence Office
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Morpheus
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