AURA

https://3dm-aura-moonquake.multiscreensite.com/

https://youtu.be/0CYWc_olgEU

The purpose of our project is to help NASA find a suitable site to establish its first lunar colony, which will begin with the Artemis III mission. The Artemis III mission will be the first crewed Moon landing mission since 1972 and will launch in 2025, and will be the second crewed Artemis mission.

Artemis 3 will land 2 astronauts on the moon’s south pole where they will spend a week, conducting scientific observations like sampling water ice, as well as spacewalks. Before the landing, some equipment will be launched to the moon such as an unpressurized rover. However, moonquakes are a potential hazard to landing sites.  

Moonquakes were first observed during the Apollo missions when the Apollo astronauts left behind a network of seismometers. They found that the moon was seismically active, very seismically active.

There are 4 main types of moonquakes on the moon: shallow moonquakes, which occur on the moon’s surface; deep moonquakes, caused by the shrinking of the moon; meteor impacts, which occur when meteors hit the moon, and thermal quakes, caused by the expansion and contraction of materials on the moon’s surface as it is warmed by the sun. 

The interactive 3D moon is consist of many latitudes and longitude lines, # of moonquakes mapped from data sent back to Earth from Seismographs on the Moon. It allows users to understand where seismic events occur on the moon through an interactive rotating 3D perspective view instead of a conventional moon seismic chart that only allows the user to view it in 2D. The interactive 3D moon opens up the possibilities for space agencies in the future to launch rockets to the moon, place seismic instruments on the far side of the Moon, and graph all the previously recorded seismic activists and seismic activists from the far side of the moon all in one place. The interactive 3D moon model works by user input of the latitude and longitude of the location of the seismic event. We used a 3D rendering software called Blender to make the interactive 3D moon. 

How We Developed Our Project / Main Components

The main components of L-SIM are a 3D model made from Blender. Since the challenge was to develop a moonquake map, our team thought of using Blender or CAD to model the moon. The first step was to create the moon, which was left to the lead modder, Alain Shi. By creating a sphere and wrapping a texture downloaded from the NASA website, we were able to quickly create a medium to begin the other step. To map and plot the areas of the moonquakes, multiple sub-roles had to be fulfilled, such as finding the appropriate map data, magnitudes, coordinates, and many other things that had to be organized so that plotting the quakes was as easy as possible. Adding longitude and latitude lines were the priority, as that will make locating and mapping points of moonquakes easier. After creating longitude and latitude lines, we used a map of the last moonquakes recorded on the moon, in correlation to the Apollo mission landing sites. Mapping the landing sites first helped triangulate the confusing amount of plots on the map, which made graphing more accurate and precise. 

Another main component of the project is the python program, which utilized the resources provided by NASA. This program included a detailed video describing the functions of each file as well as the codes and programs for wave-form plotting, which includes single and multi-channel plotting. The voiceover and description of the video as well as the page are done by Junze Zhang, who is also the website designer.

Finally, our last main component is the interactive 3D model of the moon, which is featured on the front page of the website. As described in previous paragraphs, the interactive 3D model is able to provide detailed information about each coordinate and is able to be rotated as needed.

• NASA Apollo 11 Passive Seismic Experiment (part of EASEP package)

https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/13/apollo-11-seismic-experiment/

We utilized this NASA article about the Apollo 11 Seismic Experiment to help our team have a better understanding of how the seismic experiment on the moon was conducted.

• Full Apollo EASEP and ALSEP descriptions

https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/HamishALSEP.html

We used this NASA article about the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments package to learn how instruments deployed by astronauts work.

• NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS)

https://pds.nasa.gov/ds-view/pds/viewBundle.jsp?identifier=urn%3Anasa%3Apds%3Aapollo_seismic_event_catalog&version=1.0

We used this NASA dataset to access the Lunar Seismic Data from Apollo Passive Seismic Experiment.

• Scientific Visualization Studio Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) Moon Kit

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=4720

This NASA article about the CGI Moon Kit inspires us on ways to develop a 3D render of the Moon.

10/1: We started making the interactive 3D moon and website to host the interactive 3D moon. 

10/2: We finalize the team name, motto, and project name. We also started working on the project submission.

Participating in this Hackathon was an amazing experience for us - we got to learn so many new skills. We learn how to virtually work as a team across the countries in different time zones. We also learn how to use industry-standard software such as Adobe Photoshop and Blender. Our team's interest in 3D modeling and data analysis led us to choose the Make A Moonquake Map! NASA Space Apps Challenge. During the weekend we encountered many setbacks and challenges. One of the biggest challenges is developing the interactive 3D moon in Blender and we resolve all of the related issues by searching on the internet for similar problems, bugs, and errors. Oftentimes we would find people who had the same issue as us and there is the solution right below that helps us overcome the challenges. We would like to thank our team members Anthony Hsieh, Alain Shi, Brent Shi, Angela Zhang, Cindy Zhang, and Jenny Zhang, our mentors Angell, Leo, Caliban, and Matt, and lastly our parents for fully supporting us during this hackathon.

• Constraints on deep moonquake focal mechanisms through analyses of tidal stress

https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/~cjohnson/CJPAPERS/paper37.pdf

• The equation on how to graph a line using degrees in Demos  

https://www.desmos.com/calculator/afettprxdq

• Will Future Astronauts Need To Worry About Moonquakes?

https://www.sciencefriday.com/educational-resources/future-astronauts-moonquakes/

#3d modeling, #computer-aided design, #cad, #adobe photoshop, #blender, 3d rendering, #sketchfab, #data analysis, #video editing, #capcut, #python, #obspy, #moon, #apollo