High-Level Project Summary
Our team came up with a single player game which is based on an astronaut's survival on the trip to Mars. The player faces various kinds of obstacles, challenges throughout the game which not only brings the thrill and the enthusiasm for the player but also the broad knowledge about the unknown mysteries of long duration space flights. We as the developers searched thoroughly through resources to bring out the maximum unique experience to the player. The gameplay gives a clear insight about challenges like cosmic radiation, communication losses, isolation of the crew and the effects on the human body under micro-gravity conditions, which are critical for future long-duration missions.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
We as the team Argonauts developed a single player video game which is based on a voyage of a 4 member crew to Mars. As this is the maiden manned mission to Mars, the astronauts are in danger of risks like exposure to cosmic radiation, isolation of the crew, communication losses etc. The player must face numerous difficulties to keep the crew alive throughout the journey. The gameplay includes almost all the daily chores the astronauts aboard a spaceship going through. From having meals to getting prepared to a exposure to a high level of cosmic radiation. We as developers are pretty sure that this gameplay gives a crystal-clear understanding about an astronaut's survival story when considering long-duration trips. As the world awaits long duration missions like Artemis, this gameplay becomes really advantageous on expressing the hazards and obstacles the astronauts faces in these kind of missions.
We mainly used Unity and Unreal as our 3D creation platforms. These engines are mainly based on the programming language C++. In order to bring out the maximum realistic gameplay to our players, we thoroughly researched about past long-duration missions like Apollo 11, Apollo 12.
Finally as developers, we are highly satisfied as our project will bring out a clear understanding about future manned space missions.
Space Agency Data
We were highly relying on the experiments conducted and the research papers published by NASA regarding the effects on human body in micro-gravity conditions, space food, growth of weed, shrubs aboard the international space station etc. And also we referred to published materials about the dangers and effects of cosmic radiation, the causes for communication losses and how to overcome them, solar flares and the effect of them and so on.
Rather than NASA we were relying on the researches done by ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japan aerospace exploration agency), CSA (Canadian Space Agency) etc.
Hackathon Journey
Our Space Apps voyage was never an easy one. We went through numerous obstacles which almost lead us to give up our project. However as a team we were able to face these tough times. These tough times, obstacles tested our intense focus, courage and bravery. We spent countless sleepless nights coding, designing, modeling our project. Although these tasks are exhausting we all faced them successfully as a team. We as freshers knew absolutely nothing about programming when we registered to this global challenge. But we challenged ourselves to not to limit ourselves and give our best shot at it. So after weeks of extremely tiring workload we were able to bring out our masterpiece. We as the team Argonauts were super passionate about human space flights, and as soon as we knew about Space Apps we took the challenge. This challenge created a strong bond between our team members although we never met in person due to this pandemic situation.
In the times we got stuck with programming, modeling issues we searched for various tutorials as well as some quality reference books. And also we exchanged our ideas with our colleagues for more and more creative ideas. As mentioned before all the members of our team was super curious about the missions to Moon, Mars and beyond. This is what ignited a spark in ourselves to be a part in this challenge.
We are also taking this opportunity to thank all our local leads, mentors, friends, family members for giving us their fullest support with our project. We are forever grateful to all of them. And most importantly we express our gratitude towards ourselves to not giving up when the times were hard.
References
https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/bodyinspace#:~:text=NASA%20has%20learned%20that%20without,density%20per%20month%20during%20spaceflight.&text=Without%20the%20proper%20diet%20and,than%20they%20would%20on%20Earth.
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-is-microgravity-58.html
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/station-science-101/bone-muscle-loss-in-microgravity
https://www.nasa.gov/stem-ed-resources/microgravity-effects-on-human-physiology-circulatory-system.html
https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/resources/artifact-opportunities/space-food
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/stem-on-station/ditl_eating
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Business/From_tubes_and_cubes_to_haute_cuisine_-_the_refinement_of_space_food
https://www.ams-institute.org/urban-challenges/circularity-urban-regions/space-food-space-technology-sustainable-food-system-earth/
https://iss.jaxa.jp/en/spacefood/about/
https://www.nasa.gov/missions
https://www.nasa.gov/subject/3204/future-human-spaceflight
https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Keywords/Description/Manned_Missions/(result_type)/videos
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-esa-choose-astronauts-for-spacex-crew-3-mission-to-space-station
Tags
#programming, #Artemis, #MissiontoMars, #Spacevoyages, #Mannedmissions, #Exoplanets
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.