High-Level Project Summary
We developed an interactive game-like experience that would educate people about the connections across NASA’s science disciplines. The challenge was to find an interesting way to display new connections that would interest new audiences. This was achieved through the fact that information and connections we found would be displayed via a game that would appeal to a range of audiences. This is important because we want as many people to become interested in NASA and science as possible, especially young people. Finding an interest in science at an early age is key to nurturing a scientist that can go on to change the world.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
We developed our project using an open-source game engine called Godot, and it's native language GDScript. We chose this since GDScript has many similarities to Python, a language we are familiar with, and Godot provides many features such as the scene tree and its instancing functionality which facilitate the use of computational methods essential to the development process. Godot also allows an HTML5 export, which can be integrated into a webpage using an inline frame. While we didn't get far enough into our project to implement this, it aligns with our creative intention of making the experience web-based for quick and easy access.
A simple stepwise refinement diagram is shown below demonstrating the core elements of our problem. Each low-level box represents a methods, and while not all of the methods made it cleanly into our project, it still provides a good overview.
The premise of the experience is that the user controls a character inside a futuristic Mars base. The character will move to wherever the user clicks, so long as it is within bounds. The user can click objects to make the character walk over and describe a connection between the NASA disciplines that this object represents. These connections are explained in the project demo.
The aim of this project was to present the connections in a way that appealed to new audiences and young scientists. We hoped that the science-fiction theme inspired young people to enter the sciences and bring change to the world.
Space Agency Data
We used the five main webpages that provide descriptions about the five NASA science disciplines. They were ideal for getting an idea of what each division was about. Once we had read through all of them, we were able to think of connections between them all as well as any secondary webpages that were linked on the main websites e.g. Biology Space Program. We then did further research on the ideas we had come up with which used sources from universities, other space agencies, as well as other sources from NASA itself such as the minibook ‘A Researcher’s Guide to Combustion Science’. They were helpful for filling in any gaps that were not filled by the original five webpages. Our detailed research is stored inside the code repository.
Hackathon Journey
The Space Apps experience has been insightful for learning about NASA’s projects, experiments, and the science disciplines they cover. I learnt about the ways NASA’s divisions can connect, as well as how other organisations have helped tackle the same problems. We were inspired by the interdisciplinary approach to science and how each field connects and depends on each other. The challenge also helped us learn the skills needed to participate in a programming challenge.
References
Gokoglu, S. A. (n.d.). A Researcher's Guide to: Combustion Science. NASA ISS Program Science Office. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/np-2015-10-034-jsc_combustion_in_reduced_gravity-iss-mini-book-011116-508.pdf Massa, G. D. (2017). Preparing for Veg-04 and Veg-05: Improving Pick-And-Eat Food Capabilities for the International Space Station. Florida: NASA Kennedy Space Center Cocoa Beach. Retrieved from https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20170000755 NASA Earth System Observatory. (n.d.). Retrieved from NASA Science: https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/earth-system-observatory Osborn, A. (2020, August 18). Could we grow potatoes on Mars? Retrieved from Warwick University: https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/knowledgecentre/science/physics-astrophysics/growing_potatoes_on_mars/ Physcial Sciences Program. (n.d.). Retrieved from NASA Science: https://science.nasa.gov/biological-physical/programs/physical-sciences Takahashi, H. (2003). How do plants grow in microgravity? Tohoku: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Retrieved from https://global.jaxa.jp/article/special/kibo/takahashi_e.html
Tags
#Mars #plant #combustion #life
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.