Sentinel RED| Can You Hear Me Now?
Can You Hear Me Now?
Space Communication in a Nutshell
Summary
Our project is an HTML webpage that displays, in a visual way, the concept of space communication and how it addresses to Mars, as well as presenting problems that NASA has given us the information for, like the situation when communicating from point A to point B is impossible because the Sun is between Earth and Mars. We also added data about NASA's project to speed up the arrival of information, and how would distinct elements, like laser communication or retransmission spacecraft, change the data travel concept. All of this by the user interacting with the different elements presented on the map, where the explanations can be viewed separately.
How We Addressed This Challenge
What we developed and what it does
We designed a scheme that displays the information NASA has brought to us, about communications in space. While the user interacts with the elements contained in it, the interface allows them to have a look on the different concepts presented, and learn how it affects the way data travel in space works.
Why we think it is important
We believe presenting this kind of information is important because it can help people realize, and get a glimpse of what space communication is about, and the challenges faced in the process of information exhange, such as:
- Delayed arrival of data and commands to Mars.
- Different elements interfering with information travel, causing data corruption.
- How could the current methods used in communicating be more effective?
Our objectives with this project
Our objective is to dispaly a simplified concept on space communications and how the Earth communicates with Mars and other spacecraft used during missions or data gathering. We want the information to be easily understood so that even if you don’t know about the subject, you will be able to understand it.
How We Developed This Project
Our working process
As soon as we were able to start we started first to organize and create a planner for: What were we going to create? What do we need to create it? Into what smaller steps are we going to divide our project? Who's going to work on each step? What do we seek to have finished by the end of certain time? Then, after setting some reminders to drink water and to eat 3 times a day, it was go time.
What did we use to create our project?
Our webpage was made using HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap 3. For code editing, we used Sublime Text.
Problems and achievements
When in the making of the project, we were lucky enough to not have encountered big challenges to develop the page, instead, we had some problems finding information on certain subjects that we wanted to include, but we ended up with the information we needed as time passed by.
Because this is our first hackathon ever, we consider our greatest achievement the fact we were be able to participate in this grand event. Another thing that astounded us was the pace at which we were working. We finished things way before our time limits and our team environment was pretty motivating to keep moving on.
How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project
Most of the information we used in our project to present the concepts is entirely found in NASA´s database resources that were given to us, except for AU (Astronomical Units) measurements. We took this information to present it in our scheme by selecting what is most important and making it as simple as we could.
Project Demo
Project Code
Data & Resources
NASA (2013). Mars in a Minute: What Happens When the Sun Blocks our Signal? Retrieved from https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/20122/mars-in-a-minute-what-happens-when-the-sun-blocks-our-signal/
NASA (2020). Communications. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/smallsat-institute/sst-soa/communications
Hume, A. (2017). NASA Taking First Steps Toward High-speed Space ‘Internet’. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-taking-first-steps-toward-high-speed-space-internet
NASA (2020). What is the Deep Space Network? Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/services/networks/deep_space_network/about
NASA (2018). NASA Space Communications and Navigation: Supporting Exploration. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/explore