What's in Space?| Orbital Sky
Awards & Nominations
What's in Space? has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!
Orbital Sky
What's in Space? - An educational platform bringing space to the web.
Summary
The web application What’s in Space?, is a platform that displays what is in space, demonstrates the basics of motion of these objects and most importantly creates interest and curiosity providing a high quality teaching asset that will inspire generations.The web application has various modes to captivate, entertain and educate the user on space throughout their experience. Upon loading of the application, the user can view all orbiting objects with their positions updating in real time. Consequently, the user can enter modes to travel through time, learn about orbital motion, create custom constellations, take a virtual reality tour, and explore in a Space Shuttle.
How I Addressed This Challenge
The web application tackled NASA’s Space Apps 2020 Orbital Sky Challenge by providing an educational platform that brings space to the web. The application is designed to provide an accurate visualisation of space on a web browser that can be used as a tool to aid in the education and business sectors.
The application is designed to captivate the user in an immersive experience that educates and entertains through various modes, leaving the user with a clearer and deeper understanding of what is in space and what is going on.
How I Developed This Project
This challenge was chosen due a keen interest in space, orbital mechanics, and an ambition to educate and inspire.
The behind the scenes of the application was developed in python using various numerical methods and incorporating perturbations from the gravitational influence of the Moon and the Sun. The web application itself was developed in JavaScript, HTML, CSS and most prominently utilising the JavaScript library Three.js to display and animate 3D graphics. Within the web application, the objects positions are numerically integrated using various finite difference methods. The finite difference method selected for the numerical integration is chosen dependent on the objects orbit category to save computational demand.
How I Used Space Agency Data in This Project
The project utilised data sourced from NORAD and took advantage of 3D models and high resolution images from NASA.
Project Demo
http://www.whatsinspace.com/ - Explore the wasteland.
Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15_8TXBrnBhYLXqWu4WTrEUuTB2a1ZIAIEBxGgUDMdzc/edit?usp=sharing
Data & Resources
Data: https://www.space-track.org
Images:
https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/collection/1484/blue-marble?page=2
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/new-night-lights-maps-open-up-possible-real-time-applications/
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4720
3D Models: https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/models