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HACK-A-SAT 4

Finals – FAQ

rules and FAQs

Hack-A-Sat 3 Rules

Check back here often. Responses to all submitted frequently asked questions will be posted here and updated regularly. Have a question you don’t see answered here? Send it to .

Rules and Eligibility

Can I still sign up for the Hack-A-Sat 3 contest?   When is my next opportunity to participate in a Hack-A-Sat contest?
Unfortunately registration for Hack-A-Sat 3 closed at the end of the Qualifying Event.  You can still practice the challenges from past Hack-A-Sat events by visiting the Players Corner page.   Be sure to follow us on social media (Twitter: @Hack_A_Sat) to get the latest info on Hack-A-Sat 4 Qualification registration, coming Spring 2023!

Who is eligible to compete in Hack-A-Sat?
The Hack-A-Sat competition is open to all individuals, nationalities, ages, academic institutions and business entities, subject to the caveats in Section 5.1 of the Rules.

What kind of skills are needed to be successful in the Hack-A-Sat Competitions?
Successful teams will need to have a diverse set of skills from both the cyber and space domains.  This prize competition is meant to create a two-way bridge between traditional cyber security professionals who are accustomed to categories like web, forensics, crypto, binaries, protocols, etc, and satellite designers and operators who think in terms of TLEs, quaternions, and two body problems.

Hack-A-Sat 3 Qualifying Event

Where can I learn more about what happened at the Hack-A-Sat 3 Qualification Event?
Head on over to to see the final scoreboard and more. All Hack-A-Sat 3 quals challenges and solutions are available to the public in the And last but not least, check out detailed Hack-A-Sat 3 Quals Challenge writeups and even some source code from our Finalist teams here:

Can you summarize the Hack-A-Sat 3 qualification event challenge categories?

Here are the official HAS3 Qualifying Event categories, so you can ensure you’ve got the right mix of skills on your team:

  • The Danger Room: This training facility will prepare you for the challenges ahead.
  • Revenge of the space math: We heard you like space math, so get ready for orbital mechanics madness.
  • I can haz satellite: BEEP! Is this thing on? Someone let you into the satellite operations center and it’s time to send some space commands – you’re also gonna want to know how to handle telemetry.
  • We get signal: Modulate THIS! Dr. von Kerman is still working on his Space-Cat7 cables for connecting to our satellites. Until then we’re stuck with these radios.
  • The only good bug is a dead bug:  Are you doing your part? Reverse engineer, exploit, and squash these bugs!
  • Crypto Category Placeholder Name: Cryptography? What’s that? Well you better find out if you want to decode this category and earn a top spot.
  • Rocinante strikes back: Marco’s got nothing on the surprise that the Roci is bringing. 

HAS3 Final Event

How many teams will qualify for Finals? 
Eight teams will compete in the Hack-A-Sat 3 Finals. Those teams are Poland Can Into space, perfect blue, WeltALLES!, SolarWine, SingleEventUpset, organizers, Samurai, and SpaceBitsRUs.

Will the HAS3 Final Event use virtual or real satellites?
For Hack-A-Sat 3, we are going all digital. Teams will be given a digital twin – a virtual representation of actual satellite – for training and testing before and during the final event. Using a digital twin allows us to closely replicate satellite operations and orbital mechanics, a crucial educational opportunity as we move towards Hack-A-Sat 4, the world’s first CTF in space on an actual satellite.

How can I follow the Hack-A-Sat3 Final Event?
Tune in to finals.hackasat.com for live broadcasts throughout finals weekend and to follow real-time action with our live leaderboards, dashboards and visualizations.  

Media

Is there Hack-A-Sat promotional material that I can share on social media platforms?
The Hack-A-Sat team would be thrilled to have you share any content posted from our public Twitter handle (@Hack_A_Sat) or our official website hackasat.com. Be sure to #HackASat3 when you share!

Moonlighter

What is this Moonlighter thing?
Moonlighter is the world’s first purpose-built satellite just for cybersecurity training and research. It’s literally a hacking sandbox in space, that will be launched in 2023 and host the HAS4 Finals competition.

HAS2

Where can I learn more about what happened at the HAS2 Final Event?
Check out the highlights from our Day 2 Recap & Awards Ceremony.
All HAS2 Finals challenges and source code are located here: github.com/cromulencellc/hackasat-final-2021
And the HAS2 Finals solution writeups from our finalists are located here: hackasat-final-2021/HAS2 Finalist Technical Papers Distro A.pdf at main · cromulencellc/hackasat-final-2021

Did the HAS2 Final Event use virtual or real satellites?
HAS2 Finals was hosted on physical hardware (FlatSats) that was representative of architectures and designs used for real satellites. Teams were given a copy of a digital twin – a virtual representation of their FlatSat – for training and testing before and during the final event.