High-Level Project Summary
In this project; it was aimed to tell the story of the journey Parker Solar Probe made on it’s way to the sun in an educational video game. The obstacles Solar Probe faced and the process of overcoming them was told in an entertaining way using missions. In order to make the missions in a factual way NASA’s up-to-date data and the animation videos they published on their own website were used. The game was designed have to an easy game-play and appeal to all age groups. It was aimed for the players to be able to learn and virtually experience “Touching the Sun” which is a first in human history that is predicted to make undeniable contributions to 21st century space explorations.
Link to Final Project
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
Our initiative primarily focuses on conveying the tale of the Parker Solar Probe, the first craft constructed by humans to make contact with the sun.To explain about its journey in an entertaining way, we created a game; hoping it would inspire space lovers to learn more about the Parker Solar Probe. For users to fully feel the probe experience without needing to be a professional in the field, the game has a simple game interface system. The user can do in-vehicle tasks in the game. The missions were created to simulate real-world issues that the probe might run into. In order to accomplish the quests, the player must operate the panels within the probe and address any potential annoyances. In this way, we hope to impart knowledge on how to deal with spacecraft-related issues. We added real NASA videos to the game's quests for problem-solving to make it more engaging and educational.The game's opening and conclusion are among it’s five chapters. The game is played inside the probe, allowing the player to use panels to complete tasks at all times. The user is informed that their actions cause the probe to go closer to the sun through the animations and films that play in between missions, which are all taken from actual spacecraft.Even space enthusiasts who are not experts in the area will enjoy the game. During the game, the entire trip is explained. The tools used while producing the game are: Unity, a video game motor; Blender, a modeling and rendering app and Sublime Text, text editor for coding. The game uses C#, a programming language developed by Microsoft that runs on the .NET Framework. C# is used to develop web apps, desktop apps, mobile apps, games and much more. Video game motor Unity supports C# therefore it was decided to be the coding language.
PSA: While downloading from drive don't forget to download everything. To run the game double click "nsa.exe".
Space Agency Data
We used NASA's datas given for our project and the data we found on NASA's separate researchs and websites.
The separate websites we used by NASA is the official website: www.nasa.gov
Hackathon Journey
I can speak for Team Helios when I say that I'm enjoying myself tremendously while taking part in the Space Apps Challenge. We are a team of six Turkish space enthusiasts that are excited to create new materials so that upcoming generations can learn everything there is to know about space and take part in its wonders. The hackathon was hard, but we had a great time. Since the Parker Solar Probe was the first man-made object to ever touch the sun, we were eager to complete the challenge. The challenge was to create a tool—a game, app, song, etc.—to share the journey's story with the world. We chose to make a game because it would be more entertaining for younger and would likely be helpful,as the record isn’t talked about enough.Everyone put a lot of effort into creating the game, including the research, coding, and storytelling required to create a successful instructional game. The organization provided everyone with a wonderful opportunity to challenge themselves and develop teamwork skills and time management discipline.The lack of information was the largest issue we had when developing the game, but with special thanks to NASA, we were able to overcome it utilizing free resources. Even though learning about the journey required a lot of technical knowledge and in- depth details, the team was able to successfully use this as an opportunity to gain additional space-related knowledge. Finally, I want to thank the METU coordinators for organizing such a wonderful event.
References
http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu
Investigation of Ionospheric Changes Caused by Magnetic Storm Using GNSS Measurements (SamedİNYURT ,Ermansent)
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/solar-cycles/en/
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2021/06/aa39362-20/
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/11/10/space-dust-presents-opportunities-challenges-as-parker-solar-probe-speeds-back-toward-the-sun/
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Illustration-of-the-position-of-PSP-in-the-ecliptic-plane-on-2019-April-20-relative-to_fig2_339010524
First Results from the Fluxgate Magnetometers (MAGs) on Parker Solar Probe(December, 2018American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting )
https://evrimagaci.org/parker-gunes-sondasi-gunese-cok-yakin-olmasina-ragmen-nasil-erimiyor-7514
typodermicfonts.com
Tags
#unity