High-Level Project Summary
Our project is meant to visually represent the database of seismic activity on the Moon, recorded by the sensors deployed during the Apollo missions, on a multipurpose platform that uses many features of handheld devices. Our main focus was to develop an application that makes reviewing said data much easier and more intuitive.We ultimately solved the challenge by animating the recorded Moonquakes listed in author Yosio Nakamura's catalogue, with the help of thin tori, which enlarge depending on the amplitude and magnitude of the quake. Users can easily view past events, displayed on the model's surface, while they are also provided with accurate information regarding said event.
Link to Final Project
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
link to phone version: https://simmer.io/@d1n/moon-phone
Our project is a visual representation of a Moonquake Map of the Moon. This project receives some data about the seismic activity of the moon (longitude, latitude, duration, start time, depth and magnitude) and it builds a visual, 3d moon model. The Moonquakes are signaled with the help of tori, placed at the Quakes' coordinates. We have also developed a smartphone version of this app that uses the phone's built-in gyroscope to let you navigate easier. We believe that our project can make data navigation significantly easier, in a more user-friendly version. We hope that we will achieve a functioning application which will be used not only by the jurors but also by the people who want to understand seismic phenomena easier. We used tools for 3d modellings like Blender and Unity, we also used the Software Figma for the UI/UX design. The planning of the project and overall task management was achieved with the help of the Software Trello
Once we have finished modelling the 3d Moon, we implemented it in Unity, alongside a start background for aesthetic purposes. The application has two scenes: the start screen and the main scene, where the quakes are displayed.
A very challenging and important part of our journey was handling the provided data. After browsing each CSV database that was provided to us, we extracted and sorted relevant data for the animations and display, along with other relevant data found in articles and online resources. The latitude and longitude were converted to Cartesian coordinates, while the magnitudes were used to differentiate different events, by means of colour and size. The animation mirrors the amplitude variations with respect to time, characteristic of deep moonquakes.
each torus represents a moonquake
magnitude goes from low(green) to high(red)
pulsating moonquakes are based on real amplitude models
blue moonquakes are moonquakes with no magnitude data
Controls:
pc: mouse drag to rotate the moon
mouse scroll to zoom in/out
phone: pinch to zoom in/out
swipe to rotate the moon
use phone gyroscope to orbit the moon
rocket button to toggle between touch/mouse
circle button to display data
!!gyroscope may not work on some browsers
Space Agency Data
To understand how moonquakes work, we dipped into the physics behind them. Initially, we wanted to know what causes them, so we looked at the provided resources (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/misc/documents/b53211.pdf, https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/HamishALSEP.html, https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/13/apollo-11-seismic-experiment/), while also checking astrophysics manuals, such as "An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics", by Bradley W. Carroll and Dale A. Ostlie.
Furthermore, we inspected other scientific articles, for a more profound understanding: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0362-2
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0122274105003902
Hackathon Journey
This was our first hackathon of this scale so our main objective was to improve and test our skills and acquire new ones. The experience was very exciting presenting us with a lot of ups, downs and tricky challenges. We learned new things about working in a team environment and about the different tools we used in order to complete the task. We have chosen this challenge because we wanted to try 3D mapping in a meaningful app. Our hackathon started with a brainstorming session where we discussed our different views and opinions and decided on how to illustrate the attributes of seismic activities. In order to solve setbacks, we explored and tested all the public information we could find about our subject matter.
We would to give special thanks to the more experimented people which supported us in our journey!
References
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4720
https://www.google.com/search?q=rocket+icon&rlz=1C1CHBF_enRO849RO849&sxsrf=ALiCzsbox_Rcw9uq5oOcJiC2ie3qUiiYXA:1664734239853&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj144uoksL6AhWCO-wKHTLCAKIQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1745&bih=800&dpr=1.1#imgrc=nZmT1s9yeIS4uM
https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/realistic-moon-photorealistic-2k-model-1277420
Tags
#moon #crossplatform #3D #software