Fourpoint

https://www.canva.com/design/DAErqsbLNwA/Y1NXqRsspFzufFWY4xPfWA/view?utm_content=DAErqsbLNwA&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton

https://munyinting.wixsite.com/anewlight

Project Details

The Landing Page will summarize the background, objectives, and purpose of the web tool. 

“Data: Ablaze with Information” shows several Data Visualizations on the data records of NASA and other space agencies, such as the Solar System and planets revolving around the Sun, past probes missions and journeys within a time period, and solar power harnessed countries around the world. Information regarding the Solar Radiation within a map, the cycle of water heating towards the ocean, and also visualization for sea surface temperatures clearly shows the Sun effect on life on Earth. 

“History : Blast From The Past” page shows past journeys of Solar Probes and the gained important information regarding the Sun, as well as its use for researchers.

“Map : Parts of a Whole Galaxy” page allows users to play an interactive game to find the location of each solar satellite inside the Solar System. They can then see more detailed information on the spacecrafts.

“Explore : Too Close To The Heat” enables users to get the closest-possible view regarding the Solar Probes by viewing their 3D models, a video that shows the closest images towards the Sun, and a 360 Virtual Tour from NASA’s own Goddard Space Center as one of the centers of Heliophysics researches, inventions, and missions.

“Quiz : Be The Beacon of Change” helps users gauge their knowledge regarding the Sun with a short and fun quiz. 

“Art : Live Amongst The Stars” is the creative space inside the web tool where users can showcase their creativity through interactive drawing canvas, allowing users to create cool design ideas after exploring 3D Satellite models, or any other visual in mind such as for a data report. This page also provides several videos of cool crafts of making Sun and satellites as well as allowing users to download drawing pages to have a fun coloring session from the printed pages.

“Padlet : Burning Thoughts” allows users to put their wishes, dreams, and thoughts, and the web tool will make sure that it has a place amongst the stars.

“Download : A Piece of The Sun” page allows users to download a handful of carefully picked out theme packages to customize their mobile device views with these cool available fonts, wallpapers, palettes, and textures.

Snapshots of Fourpoint | A New Light. From left to right, top down:

Visualisation maps of Solar Power and its effect on ecosystems, Animated Data Visualisation of the Solar System, 3D Interactive Model of Parker Solar Probe, Sticky Notes Wishes, Routes of Solar Spacecraft Missions, Gamified Solar System Exploration, Theme Package Downloads, Data Visualisation of Solar Power Plants Around The World

The 3 out of the 10 space partner agencies where data and technologies were used for this project will be discussed in a later section of the project submission. 

This idea will change the widespread assumptions in the community that information regarding Space Sciences are not well within reach, despite the substantial information researchers have publisised and Space Agencies that offer open data source and technologies with little to no limited access to each and every level of the society. 

To widen the eyes of the public and shine light into the current situation, this tool can potentially revolutionise the way that the Sun’s impact on life, work, and play is comprehended. As an evolutionary solution that encompasses almost all aspects of holistic learning, users are encouraged to think deeper into the reasons behind studying the Sun, the effects of solar winds and the data collected and such, and the influence on life on Earth. 

With these new revelations made available to the public, A New Light can achieve its vision and mission.

With future opportunities to maintain long-term users, much more of everything will be added, so stay tuned for new uploads and posts! Coming up, fun personality and career quizzes will include “Which heliophysics mission would you most likely be a part of?” and “Which heliophysics division team member are you?”. Machine Learning will be incorporated to predict crafts and infographics to maximise interest of a range of users. Artificial Intelligence in the form of a chatbot will be available for interactive storytelling. And, virtual reality will allow 3D life sized models and game-style maps for users to immerse themselves in outer space.

By having collaborations with space agencies to gain access to archived repositories of resources, as well as collaborations with schools around the world to integrate this all-in-one tool in classrooms to spark interests from a young age, A New Life is prepared to give rise to next gen of Sun enthusiasts, and beyond!

Workings

The system architecture diagram below summarises the tools, coding languages, software, and technologies used during project development.

The Use Case diagram below summarises all possible user actions in the web tool.

The development approach will be discussed in a later section of the project submission. 

Tools

Wix was used as a personal customized web tool builder. The ease of supporting external party tools and plugins greatly helped in building the web tool based on needs and wants without complicated requirements yet a professional and easily managed system. Wix enables an all-in-one business solution that could connect with users and automate workflow. Other supporting sets of SEO tools helped in generating complete organic search. With the requirement for interactive media from images to video, using Wix Video Maker tool allows the creation of amazing visualized information.

Coding Languages

Being provided under the Wix web tool, the content management system is based on HTML-5 programming language. 

For the server side of Wix, Scala is used as the functional and object-oriented programming language that runs above the Java Virtual Machine. The Client-side uses JavaScript programming language. Several JavaScript libraries also supports and eases the web tool development process, including Lodash, Polyfill,io, React, and jQuery. The DNS services provider is NS1, email service provider is Gmail, and supported Image File formats are SVG or JPEG. The site elements use external, embedded, and inline Cascading style Sheets (CSS) to define the set of style and design rules that greatly improved the UI/ UX design of the web tool. The default protocol of using HTTPS helps to redirect users to use SSL encryption for secure visitation of the web tool.

Software

Several software from the Wix itself as well as other third-parties were used in order to create the best web tool visualization to the users, including the use of interactive medias such as the 3D Models, Art, Crafts, and Infographics to boost user engagement and interest, and better assimilate knowledge. A number of widgets were being embedded also inside the web tool itself. 

Embed HTML code allows inputting the 3D Models inside the web tool to create interactive visualizations. 

Embed YouTube videos allow users to get a look of the NASA Space Centre as well as tutorials of arts and crafts regarding the Sun and solar satellites. 

Embed Padlet, a third-party software, enables users to create notes inside the dashboard about their thoughts, dreams, and wishes, and the web tool ensures that they have a place amongst the stars. 

Zip folder packages containing elements of customized theme packages allow users to download free wallpaper background, font text, colors pattern, and texture.

Fyrebot Quiz, a third-party quiz software, was embedded to build a customized quiz to test users' knowledge regarding the Sun, as well as knowledge regarding the existing satellites that currently orbit it.

Kleki, another third-party software, enables users to express their ideas and thoughts regarding the Solar System by offering a design tool and drawing canvas. These design ideas could be downloaded into their local machine as well. 

Drawing pages in the form of PDFs could be downloaded by users for fun art activities.

Benefits and Targeted Achievements

The main benefits are improved interactions, engagements, encouragements, emphasis, awareness, and knowledge on the Sun. Engagement is believed to be increased by up to 40% when incorporating 3D models. With the current world being very advanced in technology, people are expecting to experience more immersive and almost tangible experiences, especially when it deals with gaining additional knowledge or learning completely new things. 

A substantial increase in arts educational experiences has been found to have remarkable impacts on students’ academic, social, and emotional outcomes. A 3.6% point reduction in disciplinary infractions, a 13% rise in standard deviation in standardized writing scores, and an 8% rise on standard deviation in compassion, are just the beginning. 

Additionally, as the human brain values visuals best and making up 90% of information being transmitted, infographic and data visualisations were found to have a 28% boost in finding timely information.

Data from both NASA and Space Apps partners’ space agencies were used.

Official NASA websites contain data on the Sun, spacecrafts, heliophysics missions, and Space Flight Centers. These were used to provide bite-sized historical knowledge, map the solar system, create the Sun quiz. get a too-close look into current mission plans, and visualise data dashboards. Official NASA link: https://www.nasa.gov/ 

The main data sourced from NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) relates to the solar satellites invented as the product of collaboration between them, such as the Solar Orbiter. Besides that, ESA’s data on studies on the specifications and characteristics of the SOHO Solar Satellite are essential, as the project explores that spacecraft as one of the current solar satellites that sends back home data regarding the storms that rages across the Sun’s surface. Official ESA link: https://www.esa.int/ 

A Space Agency of Japan known as Solar-C launched a range of valuable infographics and description summary regarding their latest invention of the Solar-C, which orbits the sun during the late 2020. Official Solar-C link: https://solar-c.nao.ac.jp/en/ , and the official Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency link: https://global.jaxa.jp/ 

The Max Planck Institute is an agency that researches on the solar system as well as the SOHO satellite, especially the elements onboard the satellite. Official Max Planck Institute link: https://www.mpg.de/institutes 

For open source data, there are also particularly attractive listings of information regarding the SOHO from the Earth Observation Portal Directory. Official eoDirectory link: https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions 

The data from the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC)is also used to view data and images regarding the Sun’s Coronal Mass Ejections (CME). Official SWPC link: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ 

With a range of inspirations, the gallery pictures, videos, animations, and other resources will be used to illustrate all the concepts, theories, and discoveries in the art, history, science, and many other holistic aspects. Generations of information that were previously dispersed across countless platforms and archives, as evident by the uncommonly long list of documentations for this project, can now be accessed through this all-in-one tool. The project aims to provide opportunities to the public to explore and interact with Sun elements, and the design specially attracts younger audiences to warm up their young hearts early on to be passionate towards Unlocking the Secrets of the Sun in their bright futures.

Experiences

The team had a valuable Space Apps experience with supportive communities and mentors and the thrill of building a solution from scratch in a very short period of time. From planning to executing and working closely with all members of the team, everyone had the chance to step out of their comfort zone, especially to implement features that they have never worked in. This was an amazing growth opportunity and learning experience. 

Team efficiency was the greatest strength. When a new task is given, all members will start working on their respective tasks without delay. All assigned work was thus able to be completed before the set deadlines, and this allowed the team to achieve efficient progression in the project. 

Team organization was another key to success, where the entire project was broken down into smaller tasks that were delegated equally to each member, taking into account each of their strengths and competences to enable greater confidence and passion when completing the tasks. This, along with concrete deadlines and regular meetings, provided a clear work structure and communication lines to guide the project journey. 

Throughout the project, the team maintained a strong determination to achieve a shared goal of excelling in this renowned global challenge. Overall, the team was ecstatic to be both efficient and effective, and thus a strong team built up with complementing skills and strengths to rise to the top. 

Learnings

The main learnings by the team throughout the project is that effective communication is vital to achieve maximised efficiency and success. All members are very clear on their respective responsibilities as well as the overall project progress. Effective communication further helps the team to trust and form stronger bonds with each other through better understanding and transparency. This also helps to remove the fear of speaking out whenever disagreements or uncertainties arise within the team, thus allowing problems to be handled effectively and preventing misunderstandings throughout the project journey. 

Apart from that, the team has also learnt that the action of delegating tasks based on each member’s skills and competencies is important. As everyone is unique and has their own strengths and weaknesses, making full use of the strengths will ensure that the final results produced will be representative of the team’s best possible work. One application of this concept was when the experienced UI/UX developer in the team was assigned the task to design a majority of the web interface. By applying this concept, all members can feel more passionate and confident about their work, and the resulting improvements in the quality of overall work will be beneficial to the entire team. 

Through in-depth research and regular virtual collaborations, the team benefited from additional knowledge in the area of UI designs, and fully understood the importance of UX. Each team member’s strengths were properly acknowledged, which greatly helps in identifying opportunities to make use of the best skills and qualities. 

All in all, the team is comfortable in executing future project processes in a similar fashion when the right opportunity presents itself.

Inspirations

One of the greatest inspirations that united the team, other than love for the Sun, was the ground-breaking invention regarding the usage of Solar energy with the creation of the Solar Cell to better the lives of humans. A team of Bell Labs scientists invented the first practical silicon solar cell that works more effectively and efficiently than previous solar cell inventions. Chemist Calvin Fuller and physicist Gerald Pearson founded this surprising discovery to improve on that of selenium previously researched by engineer Daryl Chapin. The trio immediately worked together and Bell Labs announced the invention on April 25, 1954 in New Jersey by demonstrating the solar panel to power a small toy Ferris wheel and a solar powered radio transmitter. News spread rapidly to all corners of the Earth, and usage of Solar cells to gain energy from the natural Sunlight to fulfill huge demands for electricity is one of the greatest energy alternatives inventions. The New York Times wrote that this “may mark the beginning of a new era, leading eventually to the realization of one of mankind’s most cherished dreams–the harnessing of the almost limitless energy of the sun for the uses of civilization.” (APS Physics, 2009). 

With very current experiences in the EdTech industry as university students in hybrid and virtual learning, this challenge is very interesting and a good area that the team can relate and contribute to. The nature of the tech world has been admirably face-paced to adapt to the new normal, and the team has experienced firsthand how companies employ talented and highly integrated teams to cross-functionally collaborate on a global scale to power a range of impactful real-world projects. The idea where there are less limitations in learning regardless of age and background as materials are adaptive, sets the pace to help others through education to understand the world around us even behind closed doors. Instead, EdTech helps open up other doors of opportunities that were previously closed. Even though working with others may mean working across timezones, especially for international organisations, the team always tries to manage time properly to allow complete dedication. The team believes that this cause is more than worth it.

There is also another story behind this - one that starts out much earlier and even before the invention of present-day smart mobile devices. The team grew up believing in fairytales and magic. The team probably started watching such themed movies at the same time the team started using technology such as home computers and phones. Both were just as captivating to the younger selves. Not pondering on the mechanics behind them until the team reached primary school, the team sailed from Windows XP to Windows 10 and had used a good number of software over the years, just marveling at its power and the ease and convenience of it all. The team started to see its true potential. 

This was when the team realised the passion for technologies, and the team found joy in sharing the learnings over time. The team worked on a ton of projects and participated in many competitions. From individual entries to group efforts, the team loves seeing the teamwork and collaborations between groups of people from different backgrounds to make beautiful ideas take shape and better this world.

Equipped with knowledge on HTML, CSS, SQL, R, Python, and many others, programming languages became an extension of the team to tell computers exactly what to do and how to do it and eventually turning the team’s very own imaginations into a reality. 

Technology never stops growing - each morning the team would wake up thrumming in anticipation of the new technological breakthroughs that emerged even while the team was asleep. This is the beauty of this competitive and fast-paced industry. AI, data science, cloud, and IoT are concepts that the team now use on a daily basis, with unimaginable avenues lying in wait in the future. 

Many people know this, but their hesitation in approaching new and scary-looking technologies hold them back from exploring and learning. The team wants to help the community to go from being consumers to makers of technology. The team wants to share the feeling of having the world at the fingertips and the glee of creating interactive and immersive projects. The team wants this generation and the next – the future of tomorrow – to grow in mind together. Helping people is as close to a fairytale as the team can get. And in the team’s heart, this is where the real magic is.

Development Approach

The approach to developing this project strongly relates to processes and methodologies, where Agile software development is chosen over Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) for the working environment of the team to benefit from a more effective and faster approach. With these results, finalizing the application functions and system requirements to the market will focus more on ensuring clean delivery of individual project parts, rather than that of the entire web tool. A high-end quality product will emerge after testing is applied towards each phase of development in order to promptly alert the teams to potential issues.

Another justification of Agile software development being the better working culture is because it focuses efforts to work on the tool itself rather than the documentation processes. These processes will not be eliminated, but merely reduce time spent to find and document lengthy requirements as in SDLC. This is an undeniable opportunity as this project idea must be built within a considerably short time period.

The team also focused efforts to consider in detail the Social Impact, Target Market, Technical Viability, Economical Viability, Feasibility Studies, Technology and Resources, Limitations, Constraints, and Risks, Future Evolution and Enhancements, and such long-term aspects. These were discussed in the DETAILED PROJECT DESCRIPTION section of submission.

By solving the problem statement in “Unlocking the Secrets of the Sun” in an efficient, effective, precise, and holistic manner, public awareness on the Sun, spacecrafts, heliophysics missions, and Space Flight Centers can be launched to greater heights.

Setbacks and Challenges Resolution

Despite the many challenges faced during the entire project journey, all team members still continuously assisted each other to overcome the difficulties. 

Some room for improvement is that the team lacked true diverse knowledge regarding crucial project areas of business and law, since all four members are pursuing a common Computer Science major but with a range of specialisations in Data Science, AI, Cyber Security, and Mobile Computing, and only one member has a background in business, economics, and accounting. This limited the degree of professionalism and thoroughness when handling legal processes, as well as the extent of detail and realism regarding proposed business plans and cost structures. In turn, the existing idea could have achieved better growth and expansion prospects.

After thorough evaluation and reflection of all the lessons learnt, and despite these challenges, the team was still able to effectively manage most weaknesses through more than sufficient willingness and readiness in learning and conducting extensive research on unfamiliar topics to help in obtaining better understanding on the full extent of business innovation and profitability. This evident hardwork and determination enabled the team to become better equipped with a variety of newfound knowledge for use in future applications.

Acknowledgements and Appreciations

The team would like to express thanks to all members.

Neo Ann Yi, you always think of new and different ways of approaching a problem; your unique perspective is a tremendous asset. Words can never be enough to praise your actions; the work and talent you bring to the table always exceed expectations! Thank you.

Mun Yin Ting, reliability is hard to come by, so thank you for being someone the team can always count on! The team is so grateful for all of your hard work, it’s rare to come across people who are so dedicated and trustworthy! Your efforts have not gone unnoticed.

Anne Elvira Maria, thank you for always being the first to volunteer a helping hand. The team couldn’t do it without you. Having you on our team makes all the difference, thank you for bringing your best every single day! Thanks for all you do.

Jenna Gozali, thank you for bringing a smile to everyone on the team; it always boosts team spirits when it is needed most. Your consistent positive attitude has made a huge difference and is an inspiration to the team! Thank you for being you.

The team also wishes to thank all family and friends. It is with great appreciation and deep gratitude for the utmost support and encouragement that were rained down like a Meteor Shower to the entire team. All of you filled special places in the team’s hearts. Spreading so many colors to allow the team to see a kaleidoscope of possibilities, you are the kind who makes the good times even better and the hard times a whole lot easier. Thanks for walking with the team for support, thanks for walking ahead the team for guidance, and thanks for walking behind to watch the team’s backs. You have added a ring of fire to make the Sun shine even brighter. The team values all of you close to our hearts!

Please proceed to https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i-8mjszgXc38XQacVFj-u6rK0SqrVFwjICBlKyIdFeQ/edit?usp=sharing to view the Intellectual Property Rights and Warranties, Licenses and Terms and Conditions, and NASA and its partners' Resources and External Resources sorted by webpage and documented in Harvard referencing style.

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