Awards & Nominations
Space Travelers has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!
Best Storytelling
The solution that most creatively communicates the potential of open data through the art of storytelling.
Space Travelers - Let's explore Mars!
High-Level Project Summary
Space Travelers is a game application that will help kids from 10 to 14 years old learn about the hazards astronauts could face in space while traveling long distances (e.g., a trip to Mars). Among the hazards, the player will face in space are isolation, radiation, gravity fields, environment, and distance from earth. Players will learn at the same time they are having fun with all the missions the game includes, playing alone or with friends. Space Travelers is important because it brings a realistic experience that will arouse the children's interest.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
Space Travelers! What exactly does it do? How does it work?
First, Space Travelers lets the player choose a personalized avatar and a nickname for the game, then players would have to decide if they want to start the mission alone or with friends.
The game starts by giving a brief introduction about Mars and the importance of this mission, which is that this planet could be our next home as it is the nearest one with the best conditions to support life. This mission will last about three years in game-time, but in real-lifetime, it will last about two weeks. The game briefly explains different aspects (e.g., diet, physical and mental health, and space risks) to keep in mind while traveling in space.
After this, the mission starts, players will take care of their avatar, and they should keep it alive during the trail to Mars and back. The game will present the avatar’s statistics that players should keep up with help of the different activities presented in the different rooms of the spaceship.
Avatar statistics
- Health: Related to distance from Earth and environmental hazard.
- Food: Related with distance from Earth.
- Physical state: Related with gravity field hazard.
- Happiness: Related to isolation hazard.
Spaceships rooms
Entertainment room
Related to the isolation hazard, in this room players can entertain their avatar to keep them happy and the happiness statistic up. The available activities simulate different real activities astronauts do in space to have fun and avoid isolation hazards. These activities include:
- Glide around the Space Station like Superman
- Take pictures
- Listen to music
- Watch television
- Play thumbs fingers with other astronauts (multiplayer game).
Astronauts suffer from a decline in mood, cognition, moral or interpersonal interaction and could even develop a sleep disorder because of isolation. The trip to Mars will be demanding, alternating between heavy workloads and periods of boredom, therefore, it’s important that they have some activities to have fun.
Kitchen
Related to the long-distance hazard, in this room players can eat the proper food to maintain the food statistic up and also learn about the feeding that the astronauts must follow in space on long-distance travels.
Health room
This room is related to the environmental hazard. Players can take medicine in order to maintain their health stat up. In space, it is important that humans have a well-functioning immune system to be healthy during space travel and after it. The immune system helps us to fight against pathogens, viruses, and bacteria.
Gym
Related to the gravity field hazard, players can do some exercises that real astronauts do to help them adapt to the gravity field changes and when they go back to the earth avoid health problems like osteoporosis.
Important facts
One of the most important features of the game is that it offers many facts about life and risks in space that will be shown throughout the game, for example at tapping the statistics, before doing an activity and while loading the mini-games.
Events
The game also contains asynchronous events that the players should solve or they would be penalized, for example the space rocket could suffer a radiation wave, which is one of the five hazards of Human Spaceflights.
- Radiation Hazard: The resolution of this event is based on the “Nasa Podcast Ep 75 - Radiation Shielding”. In the game, the player has to first identify the hazard, then reboot a failed computer and get saved from the radiation.
Mars
The game also shows the time left to reach Mars, when it comes to zero, they will have arrived. When the crew get there, they will have some activities they need to do before going back to Earth:
- Minerals discovery: In this mini-game players should find some minerals that could be found on Mars, the game will show a description of the mineral when they identify one.
- Mars exploration: Explore the Mars surface through a rover that will travel over the place.
- Spaceship maintenance: Giving maintenance to the spaceship to discover any damage before returning to Earth.
- Back to Earth: When finished all the activities the player can go back to Earth and face the long journey again.
What benefits does it have?
The benefits that the application offers are that children have fun by learning through games, challenges and missions, where they can even play with friends while they learn. We propose a game where they can become more interested in spatial science from a young age, and why not, be the next Mars explorer.
What do you hope to achieve?
We hope that the game generates impact, that children find it entertaining and that they take advantage of the information they can learn from the game. We also identified that many of them have more fun playing with friends, so the multiplayer component seemed a fundamental aspect to help us get their interest.
What tools, coding languages, hardware, or software did you use to develop your project?
We developed this prototype using Adobe XD, some of the icons and images were designed by us using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, and other icons were taken from www.freepik.com and www.flaticon.com.
Project file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KZ5o_NKYqCcVMiKPmG1Ts_nfeetAzE31/view?usp=sharing
Space Agency Data
We used the data that NASA offers regarding the hazards that an astronaut experiences both on long space trips like going to Mars, or hazards that they have while they are at the space station. Data obtained from NASA provided us with valuable information about when these hazards occur, why they occur, and how astronauts cope with them.
We use this information to present it in the game in small capsules that appear at certain events, in order that the player does not feel an information overload and children do not get bored while playing. Information about the food, the exercises, the medicines that the astronauts take, are displayed in these little capsules and they are all based on information found on the NASA website.
For example, the data provided by the Human Research Program was used through its website, videos and podcasts about the 5 main hazards that astronauts face on long trips such as going to Mars. This information inspired us to implement events and mini games that we’ll be fun and informative for the player.
Another example is the data provided by the Mars Exploration Program through its website about the data of Mars, its moons, among others; which we used to create the story of our game.
Furthermore, we used data from the podcasts provided by the Johnson Space Center about the experiences astronauts have had in their space career and what recommendations they give on how they can face the difficulties that arise in space.
Finally, we used data provided by National Geographic, for example information about the jarosite, which is a very common mineral on Mars, which served as the inspiration for one of the minigames.
Hackathon Journey
Our experience in this Space Apps was really cool. We learned a lot about the preparation astronauts need to travel to Mars, the difficulties that they are going to encounter, how they must take care of their health so that everything is correctly in order. What most inspired us to choose this challenge was the impact we saw it would have on children, and we felt that if we had got a cool and informative game as children, we would have been more curious about these important topics, and it is exactly what we want to generate in these new generations. The approach we used was learn by playing, we prototyped a game that will be fun and most important, informative for kids. Every challenge we got, we faced it as a team. We never worked alone on a specific task, because by helping each other we could make things better and faster.
Finally, we would like to make a special gratitude to “catalystuff” user from freepik, who uploaded many free astronaut assets that were of much help for us in the prototype of this game. https://www.freepik.com/catalyststuff
References
Data
https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/hazards
https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/5-hazards-of-human-spaceflight
https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/social-isolation/in-context
https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/HWHAP
https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/HWHAP/hazard-5-environments
https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/HWHAP/fighting-space-effects
https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/HWHAP/deep-space-healthcare
https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/HWHAP/hazard-3-distance
https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/HWHAP/hazard-2-isolation
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/569954main_astronaut%20_FAQ.pdf
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/home/F_Astronauts_Need_Fun.html
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/stem-on-station/ditl_exercising
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/stem-on-station/ditl_eating
https://theconversation.com/meteorites-from-mars-contain-clues-about-the-red-planets-geology-130104
https://geology.com/stories/13/rocks-on-mars/
https://www.littlehouseofscience.com/20_fascinating__fun_science_facts_planet_mars
https://mars.nasa.gov/all-about-mars/facts/
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/ape_all_as_one_tla.pdf
Resources
The most of the icons were retrieved from www.freepik.com,and www.flaticon.com thanks to the following users:
https://www.freepik.com/catalyststuff
https://www.freepik.com/macrovector
https://www.flaticon.com/authors/nhor-phai
https://www.flaticon.com/authors/monkik
https://www.flaticon.com/authors/vitaly-gorbachev
https://www.flaticon.com/authors/photo3idea-studio
https://www.flaticon.com/authors/nhor-phai
https://www.flaticon.com/authors/icongeek26
https://www.flaticon.com/authors/smashicons
https://www.flaticon.com/authors/pixel-perfect
https://www.flaticon.es/autores/good-ware
https://www.flaticon.es/autores/becris
https://www.flaticon.es/autores/kiranshastry
Furthermore we take resources from:
Tags
#Space #Mars #SpaceHazards #Prototype #Kids
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.