Universal Explorer

Kaohsiung | On the Way to the Sun

Universal Explorer

High-Level Project Summary

We created an interactive website which is not only interesting but also educational. Once visitors click into the website, they would receive a mission to build Parker, motivating them to read the introductions of Parker and know more about its historical records. After they finished all the challenges, they would explore the journey of Parker through the animation, deepening the memories. This website introduces Parker in an easier way, allowing teenagers to understand this innovative spacecraft. Once teenagers get to know the inspiring story of Parker through this website, they may develop an interest in space investigating and are likely to become outstanding researchers in the future.

Link to Final Project

https://uniexplorer.github.io/

Link to Project "Demo"

https://bit.ly/uniexplorer-demo

Detailed Project Description

We created a website using python flask, bootstrap, Mkdocs and Github. When the learners click into the website, they would receive a mission to build the Parker solar probe. In order to collect pieces of the spacecraft, they will have to take a look at the easy introductions and answer quizzes at the end of every topic. We chose some important equipment of the solar probe for visitors to collect, such as the solar arrays, autonomous system, Niobium C-103 , for them to collect. Introduction includes Parker’s goals, development timeline and equipment that we broke down one by one of spacecraft, allowing beginners to understand and consume knowledge. Also, we created an ultimate challenge at the bottom of the website. The visitors could not only collect the rest of the pieces to build up the solar probe but also know how well they understand Parker. Once learners passed every challenge, they would build up their own spacecraft and explore the story of Parker with the animation we built. We hope to let more people know the importance of Parker by this website and understand the challenges of space investigation. This is appreciated for what humans have now and if possible, devote themselves to space research.

Space Agency Data

Parker Solar Probe Captures its First Images of Venus' Surface in Visible Light, Confirmed

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/sun/parker-solar-probe-captures-its-first-images-of-venus-surface-in-visible-light-confirmed

Parker Solar Probe’s Solar Array Cooling System Fully Activated

https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2018/09/14/parker-solar-probes-solar-array-cooling-system-fully-activated/

Parker Solar Probe [Video]

https://youtu.be/XBudjihQKsw

Hackathon Journey

Finishing a project within 2 days is indeed exhausting, yet the experience of sharing a collective team consciousness is unforgettable to all of us. Divided into two groups, we took advantage of each member's expertise. In this way, we can do our work more efficiently.

Not only did we learn some practical skills, such as methods of making slides, we have also grown spiritually. We rarely have the opportunity to gather as a group and work for a mutual goal for hours and hours.

We read some books about astronomy when we were little. That developed an enthusiasm for our future research about the Solar system. After we went to junior high school, we studied more about the Solar system in Earth science class. One year later, we participated in a science competition, which aroused our interest. We heard about the high temperature of the Sun, but now humans have made a solar probe which overcame the obstacles and was launched to the outer atmosphere of the Sun. That was the reason for which we chose Parker Solar Probe. It's a chance to dig into an issue that we have been curious about for years.

We use an online compiler, replit, to finish our project so that we can know the progress of our team members. Thus, we don't need to spend time on ensuring others' work and avoid the situation of changing the same templates, which increases our work efficiency.

The obstacles we faced at first was that we didn't know where to start despite having watched the introduction videos. To counter this problem, our team leader held a meeting before the contest. After several hours of discussion and information collecting, we decided to set up a website and create a mission in order to encourage visitors to understand Parker solar probe.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as fluently as we expected. When we were coding, the computer kept showing errors, but none of us could find what was wrong. It seemed that we got stuck and our brain couldn't think flexibly. At that time, our leader stood out and was in charge of searching information and directions online. Thankfully, after trial and error, she finally solved the problem and our website could run normally ultimately. Additionally, we had to read a lot of information online before we depicted the introductions and stories of Parker. However, we didn’t have too much time to go over every article in two days, not to mention that they are all in English. Consequently, we went to NASA’s official website to find sorted information. Luckily, there was a page with all the information arranged by month. We divided all the articles into three parts, then opened a document for everyone. We found it really important to put all the information in the same place, especially when there was a lot of information to process. This helped us a lot during the two days.

Undoubtedly, this had to be one of, if not the most special experience we’ve had in years, thanks to so many people who’ve helped us along the way. First, we would like to thank one of our teammates for providing the workspace as well as the bedroom during these two days. It was because of this that we didn’t have to waste time going back and forth from one place to another, and we could concentrate on completing the task. In addition, We would like to thank the local lead for providing pizza for us on the second day. There’s nothing more helpful than a delicious meal!

It was really an unforgettable experience. From deciding the topic, brainstorming innovative ideas, and carrying out the project, the whole competition has broadened our horizons and strengthened our abilities. As students of senior high school, we can't believe that we have such enthusiasm in researching resources after exhausting schooldays. May not be as professional as other teams, we still enjoy the process. In a nutshell, we are so honored to be able to join the 2022 NASA Hackathon. We’ll never forget how much this has influenced us and our lives.