Orbital Scrap Metal – The Video Game V2.0

The Challenge

Orbital debris is an ever-increasing threat to space assets such as Earth observation satellites and space stations and explorers. Your challenge is to create an orbital debris collection videogame web-app and imagine the possibilities of new companies that collect orbital debris and salvage the scrap metal to manufacture new products in space.

Background:

Nuts, bolts, and broken pieces of satellites are a few of the several thousand items known as orbital debris or space junk. Traveling around the Earth at speeds of up to about 17,000 miles per hour, space junk poses a threat to satellites and space stations.

In last year’s Space Apps (2019), the challenge “Orbital Scrap Metal – The Video Game” raised the awareness of hundreds of people around the world regarding the threat of orbital debris. A total of 133 teams registered to participate in the challenge. This year, your challenge is to create a video game web-app that can further educate the public about the problem of orbital debris and inspire people to think about how to capture and dispose of it, and maybe even profit from it! Can you imagine a world where future generations of space entrepreneurs may be able to start a new space industry by collecting and processing orbital debris to manufacture products in space?

This year, beginning teams can use free 2D bitmap game development apps for creating click-based games. A simple approach to simulating a circular orbit is to use the circle equation in a spreadsheet then put those numbers in an array and step through the array. Intermediate teams can use 3D JavaScript code libraries and free game engines. Researching Kepler’s equations and elliptical orbit propagation can provide examples of how to write a more advanced orbital propagator for a 3D game. Advanced teams can research two-line element (TLE) based orbital propagators to find examples.

Potential Considerations:

  • Beginners
    • Beginner-level teams with limited programming skills could focus on the design of the video game. A simple game could be a click-based 2D side scroller where a player earns points by catching debris and risks losing if they collide with debris. A simple 2D or 3D game could use the circle equation to calculate and update positions for debris. A trading game could simulate a new space-based economy where players capture debris, process it into materials, and make new products, for space hotels, fuel stations, and manufacturing facilities.
    • Search keywords for beginning video game development include:
      • Developing video games from scratch
      • Beginner tutorials for web video game development
      • Beginning video game web app development
      • Circle equation
      • Find simple examples of 2D video game web-apps and associated tutorials.
  • Intermediate teams
    • Intermediate teams could use a free game engine to create 3D video games. The user interface could present a first-person view from within a cockpit or a third person view of the debris collection craft in orbit. Research Keplerian orbital propagators to simulate orbital dynamics of the debris. Intermediate and advanced teams could include Earth observation satellites and the International Space Station to emphasize the threat of orbital debris. In such games, the player(s) would defend these space assets from the attacking debris.
    • Search keywords for intermediate 3D video game web app development include:
      • 3D Javascript code library
      • Elliptical orbit propagator
      • Method for solving the Kepler equation
      • Find code libraries that enable the development of interactive 3D web apps.
      • Search for tutorials and examples that can be used as a starting point for development.
  • Advanced teams
    • Advanced teams could find or develop an orbital propagator that processes Two Line Element (TLE) data for updating positions of 3D models of the orbital debris. A NASA resource can provide the TLE for orbital debris in a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) file that can be processed by a TLE based orbital propagator.
  • Ames Research Center produced NASA’s Web World Wind as a digital globe. Space Birds is a web-app that NASA produced that uses NASA’s Web World Wind. Space Birds demonstrates the problem of orbital debris and it serves as an excellent example for the graphical user interface of a 3D video game web app. The links on the Resources tab lead to Spacebirds web-app, code base, and the Web World Wind tutorials and documentation.

Last year, for the challenge “Orbital Scrap Metal – The Video Game,” Version 1.0, a few teams developed 2D arcade style games or 3D games using various game engines. Most of the games randomly generated the debris; however a few used TLE data. Team Power of Power created a 2D video game and used the Space Birds JSON TLE file, but it was for assigning the names and owners of the objects encountered in the game. Team Potatoheads created a 3D game and the Space Birds JSON TLE file for the orbital trajectories of the debris. Team Fastidious LEO developed a web app using a digital globe and used TLE to display the position of satellites. You can find links to these teams’ project pages using the Resources tab.

For data and resources related to this challenge, refer to the Resources tab at the top of the page.

NASA does not endorse any non-U.S. Government entity and is not responsible for information contained on non-U.S. Government websites.

Browse the Teams

See the teams that took on this year's challenge.