Escape Velocity

https://www.mediafire.com/file/u5ggy4of7ycbg5o/Untitled.pdf/file

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/bkrxxullh59p2/LumenGenesis

Using the Python language, we were able to write a program for our first tool that consists of a virtual software. We initially developed this program in order to plot the light curves of the asteroids provided to us by the NASA resources and obtain their light curves. We then worked on making the program more user-friendly and developed a user interface which lets the user input up to 6 parameters: the shape of an object, its 3d initial positions, its 3d rotation frequency, the duration of the measurement, the roughness of the object and the solar phase angle. This program calls the blender open source program where it enters our own pre-written code including the inputted parameters and renders the frames captured from which we deduce the brightness from our own cooked brightness calculators and plots the brightness in function of the rotational phase which is the light curve of the object.

The real life model which is our second tool consists of a motor that ensures the rotation of the object that the user wants to measure and a light source which imitates the light of the sun. The user will need to download the application IP webcam and copy the URL for serving the video stream as a tool of measurement. This camera will automatically take multiple shots and generate light curves by the same program used in our first tool.

We should note that we added to our code the 4th Fourier fit program in order to generate more accurate light curves.

As a next step, we saved in our program some of the data of the multiple brightness observations over time of several asteroids given to us by the NASA space Apps resources on ALCDEF after transforming this data to light curves. These will be used in order to compare the light curve obtained by the user in a simulation to a known asteroid's light curve.

Our program will also save any light curve that a user obtains in a simulation by using our tools in files. The goal is to use these light curves and train this data using machine learning so that it inverse models any shape unknown to humanity. This would bring many benefits to humanity whether in education or in unraveling the shapes of unknown objects present in space such as the Trojan asteroids.

We used:

1. The shape models provided to us by NASA and the 9 other space agencies as inputs in our program and we obtained their light curves.
2. The paper The modeling of one of Lucy's targets, Leucus provided by NASA to know the several parameters that affect the appearance of the light curve of an object.
3. The light curve database search provided by NASA on the ALCDEF site by plotting the curves of the asteroids' data provided in order to compare them with the light curves obtained by the user in their simulation.

We had never heard of hackathons before participating in Nasa Space Apps Challenge and didn’t have any idea about what we were supposed to expect and that it would be so fun! 

The pressure under which we have been put trained us to think and act as fast as possible while being very meticulous and patient. When the six of us decided to work together, we were confused about which challenge to choose. We read and researched about every challenge and proceeded by elimination so that the challenge we were left with would be compatible with our hobbies, ambitions and skills.

 Since we’re all physics students, we were mainly looking for a challenge where our physics intuition and knowledge would be of help. After long deliberations, we finally decided to pick the challenge “When Light Curves Throw Us Curve Balls”.

In order to design our software, we immediately considered learning an open source software that would be useful for manipulating 3D objects like Blender. We also thought about making our software user-friendly to give more people the opportunity of using it.

We finally came up with a software which inputs multiple variables about a specific asteroid from the user and outputs its corresponding light curve. On the other hand, we wanted to add to our challenge an educational side in order to show a clear relation between the shape of an asteroid and its light curve. That’s what drove us to develop a real-life model where the user can input pictures of a rotating object using his cellphone then obtain its light curve.

 We cannot ignore the fact that many difficulties have been sown in our path and the fear of not having time to finish our prototype but after two sleepless nights, we overcame it! Passion guided us through all of the journey; we learned everything we did from scratch without the help of anyone.

We are now looking ahead, and we do have quite a clear idea of where we’re heading. Our software is greatly appealing to all ages of learners, as well as anyone who is trying to communicate a similar idea to ours. Our future goal is to put the data to good use by training an artificial intelligence through machine learning to inverse model asteroids and objects starting with their light curves and giving us their shapes.

In the end, we would like to thank Nasa for the huge data that it provided us with and our local lead Mr. Antoine Tannous for all the motivation he was giving us during the hackathon.

resources:

1. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ab4ce4
2. https://inaoe.repositorioinstitucional.mx/jspui/bitstream/1009/1704/1/MichimaniGJ.pdf
3. https://doi.org/10.1006/icar.2001.6673
4. https://www.analyticssteps.com/blogs/streaming-android-camera-using-opencv
5. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/52524919/fourier-series-fit-in-python
6. https://docs.blender.org/
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXPyB4XeYLA

data:

ALCDEF light curve database search

tools:

1. light source
2. a motor
3. blender application
4. python language

#lightcurve #scienceapplications #research #trojanasteroids

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