The Nerd Herd

Universal Event | Nimbus to Now: The History of NASA’s Earth-Observing Missions

Earth Observation: International

High-Level Project Summary

Our project is a learning tool to teach people of all ages about the various Earth Observing Missions executed by NASA as well as other national Space Agencies such as the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and the European Space Agencies. Our interactive map gives an overview of the many launch locations Earth Observing equipment have launched from around the world and educates the public on the purpose and impact of these missions. This project is important because it will promote awareness and enthusiasm about the work Earth Observance Satellites do for us, and truly embodies the value of "Make Space", as it shows how there is always room for more in order to touch the stars.

Link to Final Project

https://earthobservation.co/

Link to Project "Demo"

https://www.canva.com/design/DAFN0wYrbAo/auDznnmcEirb-vJ2pdRuZw/view?utm_content=DAFN0wYrbAo&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink

Detailed Project Description

What we used and how does it work?

Our project is an interactive website that displays the history of satellite Earth observation on a map of the world. The website displays the different satellite launch and creation locations from all around the world. Users can hover over the map and click on different launch locations to learn about some of the different satellites launched there. This way, history is told visually and in a way that engages the user. We used Visual Studio Code as our sole text editor and CSS and HTML to build the page itself.

Current impacts and Future Plans

By including a diverse amount of countries, we help to build the narrative that the task of understanding our Earth is a collaborative effort (not just the effort of a few space agencies), and we hope to embody the theme of "make space" by proving there is always room for one more in the effort to observe our planet. We hope to have users learn new things about their world and inspire them to look more into the world they inhabit, as well as make learning about the history of earth observation more accessable to all.

Space Agency Data

We used data from NASA, ESA, CSA, and ISRO in our project. We used information regarding different satellite's goals, launch locations and dates, inclinations, and altitudes to provide our users with a comprehensive history of earth observation.

Hackathon Journey

Our Space Apps experience has been both challenging and exciting. As first time participants we were unsure what to expect when we registered for the challenge, and we learned how to better work as a team and manage our time. We also learned about the many different satellites that observe Earth and the many different functions of those satellites. Our team's love of both computer science and astronomy inspired us to take on this challenge. The approach for this project was to develop a fun, engaging website that provided the user with the facts and history of different Earth observing satellites. Our team resolved setbacks and challenges by brainstorming together and taking the occasional break from the project in order to reflect on what went wrong and what went right (as well as taking small breaks to have fun and play cards in order to keep us from getting too frustrated).