DefInSpace (DIS) Bulgaria-2022 Hackathon
The competition was held on June 3 and 4 as a new acompanying event within the framework of "Hemus 2022". It is organized by the Office for Transfer of Aerospace Technologies "RISK-SPACE-TRANSFER", Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, under the auspices of the French Embassy in Bulgaria and with the support of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Bulgaria and Hemus-95 Foundation.
DefInSpace 2022 is the first international competition for innovation with a focus on the application of space technology in the field of defense and security. It is initiated by the French Space Command in France (Commandement de l'Espace) and organized by the French Aerospace Cluster "Aerospace Valley" in 2021.
The event was opened on June 3 by the Director of PCT-TTO-BAS Kamen Iliev and greetings were given by: Mr. Stanimir Georgiev, Deputy Minister of Defense and Prof. Stefan Hadjitodorov, Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Major General Michel Friedling, Commander of the French Space Command, and Bruno Darboux, Vice President of Aerospace Valley, welcomed the international opening of the hackathon online.
During the event, presentations were given by representatives of science, defense and business: Space Innovations for Defense and Security - 20 years Center for National Security and Defense (CINSO) - BAS, Kamen Iliev, PCT-TTO / CINSO-BAS; National Scientific Program "Security and Defense", Colonel Nikolay Stoyanov, Deputy Director of the Defence Institute; Space Observation and Tracking Network (SST) in Bulgaria, PASSA project, ESA PECS, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alexey Stoev, ICIT-BAS; High-tech solutions for land, air and space security, Mr. Mihail Sugarev, TBS EOOD, Bulgaria; Dimitar Dimitrov, CEO of Digital Lights; Hristo Hristov, Executive Director of Atos Bulgaria Competency Center.
Eleven teams took part in the competition, nine of which are representatives of higher military academies and universities in Bulgaria: from the Naval Academy "N. J. Vaptsarov ” two teams took part - Student Space Society - Naval Academy and Millitary Space Alliance; “Vasil Levski” National Military University joined with three teams - Space Devision, Quasar and Space defenders; The Rakovski National Defense College team from From National Defence College; “Georgi Benkovski” Air Force Academy was represented by the Delta V team; “Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov” Defense Institute took part with the Bulgarian Defense Institute team; Technical University - Sofia was represented by the Pirin team. DefAI and Space Lights teams, composed by young IT enthusiasts, also took part.
The teams worked on challenges defined by the French Space Command related to space traffic management.
The jury ranked the Delta V team from “Georgi Benkovski” Air Force Academy in first place.
