Supporting NASA Openscapes Champions with Cloud Infrastructure

Openscapes ran a NASA Champions program in November, bringing 30 participants together to learn about NASA Earthdata and the earthaccess Python library. We provided JupyterHub infrastructure for hands-on breakout sessions - a good example of using shared infrastructure to facilitate learning and collaboration in remote events.

They used their JupyterHub for co-working, where participants practiced streaming techniques for accessing cloud data without downloading. Multiple NASA Data Centers (NSIDC, ORNL, ASDC, PO.DAAC) collaborated to co-teach using the shared environment, succeeding despite the event happening the day after a government shutdown.

They also used this to grow the OpenScapes community by getting attendees to join their slack and sign up for their December Earth Access hack day. It’s a great example of leveraging shared community infrastructure to help newcomers learn quickly and join a science community.

Read their full event summary to learn how they structured the program and engaged their community.