Ask HN: Unique or interesting experiences for software developers?

I have a friend that will be serving in Antarctica as part of a science program and it got me wondering what unique or rare opportunities there might be for software developers.

By this, I don't just mean "cool jobs", but more so opportunities that are meant to be constrained by time, location, or scope for some specific purpose. An example might be the US digital service program for US citizens, which had (has?) a 1 year term-limited service that software developers could join to help modernize government technological services.