Enthusiasts| Breakthrough
Awards & Nominations
Enthusiasts has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!
Breakthrough
Taking the spacecraft propulsion to a new level. The need for the Faster Than Light propulsion
Summary
In this NASA space app hackathon, we have chosen the breakthrough challenge realizing its importance in the context of space exploration. Our project is based on the sole objective of engaging people in this area in an interactive way and inspire many to come up with their own ideas regarding it. So we have come up with an idea of making a game in which players take voyage of space( a space like environment with planets, asteroids stars)in their spaceship and on the way answering some science puzzles will upgrade them with new and faster propulsion method also giving a few ideas about how it works along with animation as like distorting the space in the warp drive level.
How We Addressed This Challenge
Since the beginning of the space race, mankind has made a tremendous progress in space exploration from sending the people to the moon to pushing the voyagers into the interstellar space, and looking forward to mars. However, the propulsion technologies till date hasn't been able to develop a speed to push mankind in the mere vastness of space within the practical desired amount of time. So the advancement in space depends on our propulsion technologies. Realizing that importance we came up with an idea of developing a game which will take players into the voyage of space and on the way solving some science puzzles will give them with a upgrade of faster propulsion type also giving some ideas about how it works. The game will even provide the basic intuition of those propulsion technologies through understandable animation. It will also include the information about present propulsion technologies in use, maximum speed we have achieved till now and even the use of gravity assist in minimizing fuel. The project will provide emphasis on hypothetical Warp Drive as well giving some basic ideas about its working, requirements, difficulties. The purpose of this project is not to buzzer the mind of people by giving some weird mathematical explanations however make it as simple, interactive and entertaining as possible. The project aims to engage more and more people in these fields, enhance their knowledge about space and the incredible works done by the space organizations like NASA, ESA and to inspire them to develop critical thinking and ideas of their own in these fields. It is well known that the best solution for any problem comes form the diverse ideas of people all over the world and it has been proven many times during the course of human civilization. So the projects hopes to develop interest among the people regarding science, physics, astronomy and so on through an engaging way and in turn bring their collective diverse ideas together to help space organizations in tackling the challenges in space exploration and many others.
How We Developed This Project
Realizing the importance of propulsion technological advancement and to create awareness about it among people, we tried to give all our best to the project. Firstly, we did a lot of research on the present propulsion technologies and the proposed hypothetical ones through internet, consulting many experts and using the data and resources given by NASA, ESA, JAXA and other organizations. Then we applied all this ideas to make project simple, engaging and understandable.
Let’s dive deep into the process
1.For developing the game, we preferred to use Unity Game Engine because of its modular nature, wide variety of tools and user friendly assets.
2.Firstly, a simple space environment is made containing stuffs like planets, stars, asteroids, satellites and so on. As the mission was to take players into the voyage of space , we decided to take players from the surface of Earth to provide more realistic experience.
3.Now a simple launch site is created creating a simple Earth’s surface terrain and the players are kept in a spacecraft inside a rocket that will launch them into the space. On the players command, the rocket will be launched to the space but the players will be able to take off only if they are able to answer simple science puzzle or question.
4.After the launch the rocket will take them out of the earth and fuels tanks of rocket will be dispatched leaving only the spacecraft. Now they will be taken into the voyage of space.
5.Firstly, the player will be provided by a slower propulsion type e.g. Chemical and electro thermal propulsion and they will be given some details on spacecraft screen about how it works like Newton’s 3rd law, blasting air animation and so on.
6.Then the players will be asked some science questions and if they answer correctly they will be provided will higher propulsion type from Ion drive to Solar Sails to Plasma Propulsion to Nuclear Propulsion and finally to the Warp Drive. Similarly player will also be given some details about each propulsion type, physics behind it and its working before upgrade.
7.In the interior view of the spacecraft, a apparent speedometer will be set to give players some intuition about the speed they are achieving from each propulsion type so that they can get basic idea about which propulsion type is fast and which is slow.
8.We have also decided to add some addition puzzles which if solved will give the players a Gravity Assist Maneuver by making the spacecraft orbit a few times around some planet and finally give a slingshot. The players will be given ideas about how space organizations uses this gravitational advantage of some planet to save the fuel.
9.When the players finally reach the Warp Drive propulsion completing all other types, they will be given some more ideas about this hypothetical Faster Than Light propulsion method, the use of exotic matter, the expansion and contraction of space behind and front of spacecraft and so on. The player will also be asked some logical questions like: If according to physics nothing can mover faster than light then doesn’t this technology violate the law? Then after they answer, they will be also be provided explanation about the answer informing that this the concept of warp drive is that instead of building a spacecraft which can travel FTL we can instead manipulate the fabric of space time in FTL manner.
10.There will be also be animation provided by making some flashes of light and other space stuffs quickly passing by the spacecraft so that player can get somewhat virtual view of travelling faster than light.
11.On the way, players will also be given view of some bizarre astronomical objects like: Black holes, Neutron stars, Binary star system and many more. Similarly at some point the spacecraft can be made to disappear suddenly and reappear at some other point in space and then they can be given information that they have just passed through a Wormhole and some details about what it is.
12.Finally, the player can be taken to a certain destination like some planets or even exoplanets thus ending the game.
How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project
We decided to make our project with as much modularity as possible utilizing various sources of data and information. We had made sure that we utilize the data access provided by NASA and other space agencies to its fullest extent. As our project is based on spacecraft propulsion, we checked the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory website to get a brief overview of how different propulsion system works and the ones that are in use currently. For warp drive, we have gone through a research paper provided by NASA itself under the challenge as well as the Eagleworks Laboratory's website. The ideas provided by space organizations about the method of calculating distance in the space have been used in our project by including distances between some planets, stars etc. reading the research paper of different physicists working in various space organizations about the possibility of breakthrough in spacecraft propulsion, warp drive, antimatter and exotic matter gave more depths in our project.
Project Demo
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1m6hJZLq5mMXGucmPBKufQiA1PP0qd1D_-HUEk_0nT0o/edit?usp=sharing
Data & Resources
https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/antimatter-ion-drives-nasas-plans-deep-space-propulsion/
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/bgp.html
https://www.nasa.gov/smallsat-institute/sst-soa/propulsion
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20140000851.pdf
https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/features/cosmic/nearest_star_info.html