Kibo-RPC Rounds
6th Round: Closed for Applications
updated on 26 May 2025
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have agreed to join forces to expand the existing Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC) that JAXA has been conducting from 2020. The Kibo-RPC is a programme organized under the "Asian Beneficial Collaboration through Kibo Utilization" (Kibo-ABC) initiative of the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) organized by JAXA, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan, and space agency partners in the Asia-Pacific regions.
The Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC) is an educational programme where students will obtain and test programming skills to solve various problems by moving free-flying robots (Astrobee and Int-Ball) in a simulation environment. Preliminary rounds will be held and the selected teams will run their programs on the free-flying robots in the final round at the Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo) aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Through this experience, students will learn the techniques and methods involved in programming and robotics, while boosting their interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) by moving actual robots on the ISS. Students will also learn about the importance of bridging the gap between simulation and reality.
Application Process/Schedule/Detailed Mission for 6th mission of Kibo-RPC
For the details of the 6th mission of Kibo-RPC, please see the JAXA Kibo-RPC 6th mission website, read the Guidebook, and watch the Tutorial and Guidance Session videos.
Registration for UNOOSA international slot
Register from HERE.
The deadline for the registration is
Monday 26 May 2025 16:59 CEST.
However, please note that registration and participation is
only open to 50 teams. In case there is a large number of registrations, UNOOSA reserves the right to close the registration before the deadline.
If your registration is accepted, you will receive an email containing your log-in ID and password to enable you to access JAXA's web-based simulator and the participants' page on the Kibo-RPC site.
Eligibility for UNOOSA international slot
The UNOOSA international slot is only open to students in developing economies and economies in transition that are NOT Kibo-RPC participating countries and regions.
To assess eligibility, OOSA will use the country classification list of developing economies and economies in transition indicated in the joint report,
World Economic and Situation Prospects 2025 published by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and other related organizations.
The UNOOSA international slot follows the team formation rules set in the Guidebook. Adding to those rules, for the UNOOSA international slot, teams must consist of at least three (3), maximum team size is six (6). Only the Representative/Leader is allowed to be a non-student, but the team must consist of at least three (3) students.
Preliminary Round for UNOOSA international slot
In addition to the submission of the Android Package Kit (APK) through the web-based simulator, the UNOOSA international slot will require the submission of a PowerPoint presentation (1 title slide + content maximum 5 slides) which they explain the following;
- Why they decided to join the challenge
- What benefits do they see in conducting space and robot technology-related activities
- What kind of efforts are done in their country/region to promote STEM education and especially space-related activities
- How will you promote this opportunity effectively within the country/region
The deadline for the APK and PowerPoint presentation is
Thursday 19 June 2025 CEST.
The PowerPoint presentation is to be submitted by email. The email address will be communicated to teams who have completed their registration.
The results of the Preliminary Round will be announced in the middle of July 2025.
Previous Rounds
The fifth round opened in 2024, the winner of this round is Orion 1 team from the Yogyakarta State University (Indonesia). They placed fourth in the Final Round.
The fourth round opened in 2023, the winner of this round is ORION team from the Yogyakarta State University (Indonesia). They placed fourth in the Final Round.