NASA

Officials collected 770 entries between April 20-21 from more than 9,000 people in 83 cities around the world for this year's International Space Apps Challenge.

By Clara Moskowitz Space.com

An interplanetary weather app, a spot-the-space-station tool, and a Mars greenhouse concept are among the winners of the 2013International Space Apps Challenge. The contest solicited mobile apps and technologies that aid space exploration and enrich life here on Earth.

On Wednesday, a panel of judges from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and partners announced the winners of the contest, which collected 770 entries between April 20-21. More than 9,000 people from 83 cities around the world contributed to the apps submitted, according to NASA.

"TheInternational Space Apps Challengewas the culmination of months of planning, years of experimentation and thousands and thousands of hours of hard work from people across the globe who share in the excitement of building our collective future," Nick Skytland, NASA Open Innovation Program Manager, wrote in a blog post on open.NASA. "It is a shining example that transparency, participation and collaboration are alive and well at NASA." [10 Best Space Apps in the Universe]

Many of the contestants in the challenge, which is in its second year, used free cloud storage and services provided to all participants in the challenge by the company CloudSigma. "It's amazing to see the innovation coming out of this event, and we feel honored to have been a part of it,"CloudSigma Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Robert Jenkins said in a statement.

The teams behind the six winning apps receive invitations to the November launch of NASA's robotic Maven (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) Mars probe from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and a Spaceflight Training course at the National Aerospace Training and Research (NASTAR) Center in Pennsylvania.

The six "best in class" winners of the challenge are:

Best Use of Data: SolThis Kansas-produced app integrates weather data collected by the Curiosity rover on Mars with live weather conditions on Earth to give users a forecast for both planets at once.

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NASA unveils winners in space apps contest