SilverHawks

https://youtu.be/ad6DyGdMFyI

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SfY1ENj2fNcl8fsbWRRP50E3vOZg7iEh?usp=sharing

Our solution responds to the “The trail to Mars: can you keep your crew alive” challenge, and it starts with the creation of a pervasive video game that will take place at the home of the user through AR. Our video game will scan certain physical rooms so that the different setups will be displayed thanks to AR decoration technology, which will enable the possibility for the player to enter a different and new reality from the safety of his/her home, at the same time that it promotes physical activity (exploring scenarios, filling up the movement bar for your avatar, accomplishing missions, etc).

Our main objective is to encourage the youth (as well as people from different aged categories) to know, understand and LOVE space culture so that in their future, they will work to be a part of this step in humanity. The way in which we will achieve this goal is by giving them small pieces of information and then letting them face challenges that will let them know how much they learned, how could they apply the acquired knowledge and what are they missing to reinforce.

All along the video game, there will be a virtual assistant that will tell important health, psychological, body systems and space routines information for the player to apply in developing skills, facing challenges and going through decision-making processes.

To represent our idea, we created a 3D demo that contains one minigame, one character (Crewman) and the opportunity to explore the inner part of the spaceship, as well as a minigame in which you have to capture the vitamins and medicines you need according to your bar levels.

The tools we used are: 

BLENDER

Blender is a multiplatform software, specially used for modeling, illumination, rendering, animation and creation of 3D graphics. Also for digital composition with a node procedural technique, video edition, sculpture and digital paint.

GODOT

Godot is a free and Open Source multiplatform 2D and 3D video games engine published by MIT licence. In the beginning Godot video games were developed using the programming language GDScript, that is the native language. Subsequently, C#, C++ and VisualScript support was added. GDScript is a high- level programming language very similar to Python that was specially created for Godot.

General requirements for the installation of Blender 

Minimum:

●64-bit dual core 2Ghz CPU with SSE2 support

●4 GB RAM

●1280×768 display

●Mouse, trackpad or pen+tablet

●Graphics card with 1 GB RAM, OpenGL 3.3

●Less than 10 year old

Optimal:

●64-bit eight core CPU

●32 GB RAM

●Full HD displays

●Three button mouse and pen+tablet

●Graphics card with +12 GB RAM

General requirements for the installation of Godot

Minimum:

●Windows 7

●GPU Support for OpenGL 2.1

Optimal:

●GPU Support for OpenGL 3.3

Based on the given links all along the challenge, the first video we saw was the one of the Trail to Mars, and it worked out as an initial contribution for us to know those risks or situations that must be solved in a space trip and which must be represented/teached in the video game.

GeneLabs links led us to deepen up a little bit on the body's systems that are affected in space. The information we found was not really understandable since it handled scientific concepts beyond our scope, as well as studies in rodents. However, we consulted it with a doctor who, in addition to posing risks and solutions during space travel, also provided us with reference documents to finally understand the sufferings of an astronaut.

Some other resources that were also provided in the challenge were https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/hazards , in which we consulted "5 Hazards of human Spaceflight Videos", in addition to risks https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/bodyinspace "the behavior of the body in space". These links led us to some other interesting articles that allowed us to understand and complement the solutions proposed by the doctor in the consultancy.

Being a part of NASA Space Apps Hackaton was a fleeting, exciting and really interesting experience.

We worked at the speed of light with the phylosophy of giving our best in every product we made, always remembering that every idea is a good idea and that each one of us can contribute with great stuff.

If something we understood, is that if you want to overcome that big of a challenge, you must let your creativity flow.

Some of the most important things we learned are that teamwork has certain Universal Laws and that it is a really helpful ability that everyone should strengthen on a daily basis because it allows you to find middle points and converge with other ways of thinking. Thanks to this, we achieved a solution that could be applied not only in a local scope, but in a spatial scope (mindblowing!).

The reason that lead us to choose this challenge is because in our academic path, we played a part in a college proyect which consisted of stablishing the first sustainable human community in Mars.

We clearly loved that idea and somehow, we left behind those limitations of only proposing Earth-focused solutions. Seing us applying all of the acquired knowledge and being pioneers in our life by experiencing a NASA event in a playful approach so that little humans get to understand complex concepts that are related with a not so far away future, and in the way they understand the importance of having good habits, taking care of your mental and physical health and working hard for your dreams so that they become goals really got into our minds.

At the very beginning, we created a schedule for the 48 hours in which we specified the role each one of the teammates would take; but due to our lack of experience and commitment to give our best, here we are!! (11:14pm and still working, over and out).

Mainly, we are grateful with Dr. Xitlalic Garcia for the time she gave us at explaining the medical situations that an astronaut may face during the journey; as well as our mentors: professor Miguel Rodriguez for the technical advice in video games development and professor Krishna Guzman for considering us to create a team, giving us her best pieces of advice and joining us in this adventure. Secondly, but not less important, we should mention all of our loved ones, who gaves us support and wished us the best of lucks.

Blender 3D

Godot engine video game motor

Audio resources that do not require authors’ rights.

Muñoz, F., Pinzón, M., Zúñiga, L., Mahecha, L., & Saavedra-Torres, J. (2019). Riesgos de ser un astronauta: héroes del espacio Artículo de Revisión RIESGOS DE SER UN ASTRONAUTA: HÉROES DEL ESPACIO. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3a2ByZl

Rivera, M., Cornejo, J., Huallpayunca, K., Díaz, A., Ortiz-Benique, Z., Reina, A., … Ticllacuri, V. (n.d.). Human space medicine: physiological performance and countermeasures to improve the astronaut’s health. Retrieved 2020, from Revista de la Facultad de Medicina Humana website: https://bit.ly/3otFafi

Carrillo, R., Díaz, J., & San Juan, L. (2016). Medicina espacial. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2ZK08fy

Saavedra-Torres, J., Pinzón Fernández, V., Fernanda Zúñiga-Cerón, L., Astudillo, V., Bernal, F., & De María Muñoz Gallego, F. (2019). Brief description of the physiological changes in an astronaut (pp. 2463–1426). Retrieved from En Línea website: https://bit.ly/3FhEY8P 

García, X. (2021, September 29). Medicina espacial [Letter to Team: SilverHawks; Zoom].

Perez, J. (2018, March 14). The 5 Hazards of Human Spaceflight. Retrieved October 3, 2021, from NASA website: https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/hazards

Whiting, M., & Abadie, L. (2011). 5 Hazards of Human Spaceflight. Retrieved from NASA website: https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/5-hazards-of-human-spaceflight

NASA. (2021, February 2). The Human Body in Space. Retrieved from NASA website: https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/bodyinspace

#health #survive #Mars #Videogame #pervasive #augmented_reality #adventure #silverHawks #crewSpaceAdventure #playful #spaceJourneys

This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.