2025 EU Defence Hackathon Challenges

Autumn edition
Technologies for Space and Defence

As space is a key enabler for defence and an increasingly contested domain, ensuring control and resilience across space domain is critical. This hackathon theme explores how the European space ecosystem can support defence missions and operations and contribute to a secure space domain – including through artificial intelligence, more autonomous and secured systems, innovative solutions for data collection and processing.

 

The theme is subdivided into three challenges which shall be supported with ‘hackathon/makeathon’ capabilities by local organisers to enable rapid development and prototyping whenever possible.

Overview of challenges

The Autumn 2025 edition of the hackathon will be structured around a central theme, subdivided into three distinct challenges. Each challenge will be supported by local organisers through makeathon capabilities, enabling rapid prototyping and hands-on development in both hardware and software domains.

Challenge 1

Protection of space assets – detect, analyse and counter threats in space

With adversaries developing anti-satellite weapons, orbital jammers, and cyberattacks, Europe's space assets (navigation, communications, and Earth observation) are under threat. This challenge addresses the need for solutions that contribute to protect space assets from fast-developing threats through detection and analysis capacity (support to space domain awareness) and countermeasures.

Among others, participants could:

  • simulate innovative detection systems (in orbit, from ground),
  • develop data processing solutions, APIs, algorithms, visualization interfaces, prototypes for anomaly / threat detection and analysis in space,
  • develop protective technologies,
  • simulate countermeasure systems (defensive or offensive).

Challenge 2

Space for defence – Earth-Observation, Navigation, Communication, and coordination of multi-domain military operations

This challenge addresses the need for innovative space-based solutions to support military missions and operations, including in the field of earth-observation, positioning, navigation and timing, secured communications, space-based missile early-warning, and collection and processing of multi-sources data (and increased resilience of such capabilities).

To make it more concrete, participants shall specifically aim at tackling one or several of the following geopolitical challenges:

  • Military operations in Ukraine
  • Protection of EU North-Eastern borders
  • Security in Arctic
  • Maritime security in Mediterranean Sea and in the Red Sea
  • Hybrid warfare (including electronical warfare) at EU doors
  • Missile defence

This could include, among others, solutions for onboard processing of earth-observation data, secure and fast data relay, enhanced security of space-based communications, responsive access to space, demining, multi-domain command and control centers (including situational awareness), interconnection between domains, local data fusion from multiple sensors, drone swarm detection and disruption, and new innovative space technologies and applications in support of defence.

Challenge 3

Sovereign Aerospace – Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Management, Production, and Countermeasures

Autonomous drones (military and civilian), aircraft, and weapon systems are redefining aerospace. The challenge addresses the need for innovative solutions in different areas.

  1. Airspace monitoring solutions to detect and respond to hostile or unknown airborne objects with automated countermeasures.
  2. Better recognition and disablement of fibre-optic drones in ambush situations.
  3. Repurposing existing space hardware and software for military application in the aerospace domain with the focus on launch systems, clearance, and trajectory calculations.
  4. Developing drone management hardware and software related to navigation, vision, and AI to enable independent flight and decision-making at scale for intelligence gathering and air support.
  5. Manufacturing drone hardware and prototyping capabilities to increase drone capabilities and scaling.

For example, during the weekend, hackers could focus on making: existing space tech and data management systems work in aerospace operations; drone management systems; rapid prototyping of drone frame designs for specific mission requirements; development of modular drone payload systems; 3D printing, and other rapid manufacturing techniques to improve drone production; combining multi-source public information to track airspace movements; Prototyping sensor arrays for detecting and tracking airborne objects; prototype systems for jamming or disrupting hostile drone signals; etc.