Interloona

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador | Lunar Surface Operations: Real-Time Collaboration

Interloona

High-Level Project Summary

During NASA’s Artemis mission, many activities will require the recording of console logs from astronauts and ground control. Interloona is an application that allows the synchronous creation, viewing, and collaboration of logs for safer and more efficient missions. Interloona allows users to create logs containing a collection of relevant information such as time, date, title, text, ideally any desired file type, etc. The search and filter function can be used to access specific previous logs. Other features include a map view, a lunar database, drafts, and more. Though the functionality of the app isn't complete, the framework for an innovative and supportive application has been created.

Link to Project "Demo"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSiusd73y9o

Link to Final Project

https://github.com/MagicScripta/interloona-lunar-operations-app

Detailed Project Description

Upon launching Interloona, the user will view the most recent logs from other members of the mission along with general information such as author, date & time, title, mission, and the content of the log. Clicking these log entries will lead to a more detailed view of the log along with the option to comment and collaborate with the log entry. At all times while using Interloona the user can create a new log which will collect the data listed above and can ideally contain any file type. A speech to text option within the new log tab could allow astronauts to easily create logs while completing tasks. The search bar within Interloona along with the search filters allows users to access previous logs based on a selection of relevant criteria associated with the logs. Map view is a viewport that displays a 3D model of the moon with visible geotags that correspond to the location of each console log entry, and selecting these tags will display relevant log information similarly to the standard log view. The lunar database allows users to access lunar data found from previous log entries or other sources that may be beneficial during a space walk or research. Any log created by a user that is not approved will be stored as a draft that can be accessed from the new log tab at any time. Interloona aims to provide a seamless experience for users that improves all aspects of lunar missions such as communication, safety, task assignments, research, and more.

This application was created using the Electron framework. This cross-platform desktop application uses Javascript, HTML, and CSS. The app is separated into pages each responsible for their own functionality. The pages include signing up / signing in, a longview, creating logs, and a view of the logs. Accessing a Google Earth-like API could aid in developing a real time rendering of the moon for the map view.

Though there are some uncertainties in terms of the limitations (latency, technology, etc.) research has allowed the team to assume the app’s functionality is possible on the moon. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon console with touchscreen controls shows that these sorts of displays and controls are feasible for space. Though in the past radio wave lunar communications would likely not be able to handle the app of this likelihood and cause major latency issues, new developments in terms of the Artemis’ Lunanet communication framework, the Gateway outpost that will be orbiting the moon, and laser communication relay demonstration will alleviate these concerns.

Space Agency Data

One of the most relevant space agency resources used in this project is the Artemis Plan document. The Artemis plan was used to draw lots of inspiration, but other specific information was used such as the LunaNet information as well as information related to the Gateway outpost. The log data from previous NASA missions was used frequently during the testing of this application, as well as for inspiration related to the necessary information fields. The Nasa moon model was used during attempted implementation of the map view functionality, and was also used during the Blender animation created for the beginning of the project demo video. Various other NASA and space agency resources were used for inspiration towards this project.

Hackathon Journey

Our team would describe the Space Apps experience as extremely educational and captivating. While learning a lot about the technical side of this project, the team also learned important lessons in terms of group decision and time management. We drew inspiration from various NASA resources detailing lunar communication and space communication of the past, as well as our own vision of how it could work in the future along with data from the Artemis project. We’d like to thank NASA for the opportunity to participate in such an exciting event. TO THE MOON!!!