UWR Falcons

Kothamangalam | On the Way to the Sun

Awards & Nominations

UWR Falcons has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!

Global Nominee

Odyssey of Solar Parker

High-Level Project Summary

Our challenge was to create an interesting way to communicate the adventures and achievements of Solar Parker Probe. Creating an interest among people to share these data was our first challenge to overcome. We chose two way approach here. We created a game “Parker Dodge” using the platform Scratch. Then we created two exhibits (still model and interactive model) to explain the journey, achievements and how Parker dodged all the challenges on the way to the sun. The still model shows a miniature of Parker Probe approaching sun and the working model shows the timeline of the same.This approach created an impact among the small testing group to understand and gain knowledge about parker.

Link to Final Project

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JA1g0evkBANQWrf7S98nzHYcl2mIsDAGyqIikZBVx8A/edit?usp=sharing

Link to Project "Demo"

https://youtu.be/qwTv3gllBRU

Detailed Project Description

We chose the challenge named“On the way to the sun”. We were inspired to read the journey of the Parker probe and were excited to create an interesting way to communicate it with the fellow students, teachers and local public. We come from a rural part of Kerala, India (Cherunniyoor, Varkala) where people have very little knowledge about the details of space research and studies that the human race has achieved so far. So creating an interest among people to share these data was our first challenge to overcome.

We thought about conducting a flash mob or story telling or poster pasting and much more to share what we learnt and understood about Parker probe. Finally we chose a two way approach to tackle all our challenges. One was to use a technology based solution which is to develop an interesting game to seed curiosity among people. Another solution was to create exhibits to show our focused group the history, design, achievements and challenges that Parker faced on the way to the sun.

The first thing was to create a game to grasp the attention of our focused group of people. We created a multilevel dodge game which is named “Parker Dodge” using the platform Scratch. We learnt basics of Scratch and programming from the Robotics and Innovation lab in our school (Marthoma Central School, Cherunniyoor). Our group members collaboratively created the game and we tested the game with our friends and family. It was fun to design the game and choose different elements of the game. We made sure that the elements that we choose to gain points and lose lives were inspired from the journey of the Solar Parker Probe. The block coding language was easy to use and apply the logic and design of the game.

Games are always fun to play and get people's attention. We planned to drive this attention and interest towards the deeper knowledge about the Solar Parker Probe. So we decided to create two exhibits; one still model and one interactive model to explain the journey, achievements and how Parker dodged all the challenges on the way to the sun.

The still model shows a miniature of Parker Probe which is approaching the sun. Using this exhibit we can explain about the history of the Solar Parker probe and design aspects which includes the Thermal Protection System (TPS), WISPR camera and other sensors. Also we can give answers for questions which may come up from the crowd such as why the Parker Probe didn’t melt when it touched the Sun’s corona. We used, the used or waste materials which were around us to create the models; such as cardboard boxes, news paper, hardboard pieces etc.

The interactive model gives the full details of Solar Parker Mission timeline. We created a wheel operated scroll sheet which shows the journey and achievement of Parker probe. To create the exhibit we used PVC pipes and wheels to create the scroll effect. To make the frame we used hard sponges and foam sheets which are used in the packing of different electronic devices. To secure the frame we used ice cream sticks and glues. To support the frame we used cardboards and waste woods pieces. The scroll sheet is two way where we can use it in ascending and descending order of timeline. Using this model the users and scroll and view the detailed review of the time line of the mission which includes the critical design review started from 2015, different Venus flyby, perihelion, corona flyby, crossing Alfven surface and returning back to earth in 2025.

We tested these explanation method with our parents and friends and we tried to correct few of the flaws. They enjoyed exploring the game and was asking questions like the different elements and representations in the game. Thus we were able to test our solution and found it useful and effective.

Space Agency Data

Entire resources and references regarding ‘Parker Solar Probe’ were taken from the open source data provided by NASA. When we started researching on this mission, it became very fascinating as we came to understand more about it. It’s evolution from a captivating idea which initially seemed to be a mission impossible to becoming one among the proudest and most challenging mission in the history of space exploration triggered our curiosity to learn and understand more about it. The realization that a man-made object is still watching and learning our 'Sun’ closely from around 15 million miles away inspired us to research more about the information collected by the probe.

The first question that popped up in our minds were, how NASA was able to build something that would not melt or get damaged as it approaches the gigantic burning star. We were astounded by the whole idea of the mission and the entire process that felt As we kept reading, we found answers to all our doubts and were inspired to learn more about it. All the relevant information were available in the NASA data and also in several other websites and articles. But what made us to stick on just to the NASA data was its richness and simplicity. Everything from the origin of the idea, its early development stages, failed attempts, various socio-political and technical challenges, mission plans, development stages, launch, the information collected, accomplishments and future missions were all explained in the simplest yet detailed way possible. We were thus able to use them to develop effective ideas to implement the project.

Since we all hail from a mission school in a remote village called Varkala in Kerala, it was challenging to create something that would flawlessly communicate with our colleagues and public hailing from the same area. We divided the research and data collection work among our team and conducted daily meetings to discuss and document the progress. It also made it easy for us to analyse the information and develop the game and exhibits. Thus we were able to conduct effective awareness programs to successfully educate other students and people from our locality.

Hackathon Journey

We heard about the NASA Space App Challenge from Our School's Robotic and Innovation Lab mentors. They shared the link of the same and we were informed to go through the website and familiarize with it. So all of us did an individual research on our own about it and interested students from our school gathered and formed a team. We all had different short listed topics of the challenges. We discussed and finalized the challenge which is "On the way to the sun". Learning and exploring NASA resources were more fun than we thought and the details provided in blogs and resource links were understandable. We were able to think in several different ways to come up with an interesting and innovative solution to approach common crowd. Our motive was to share the story of Solar Parker Probe to each and everyone around us.

We chose this challenge because when we read about the solar parker, we were so amazed to know that a human made probe was able to travel all the way from earth to sun and touch the surface of the sun and it didn't melt. So we were so interested to learn and understand about the design of the Probe which helped us to achieve this major goal. Exploring about Eugene N. Parker was cherry on top because he was the first alive person whose name was used for a mission.

Our group had a mixed bunch of teammates which had crazy and fun ideas. So it was entertaining at the same time thought provoking. We thought hackathon was only about creating digital or programming related solutions for different challenges but NASA Space app challenge gave us a new perspective about the same. We used this platform to learn about different space related discoveries and studies. The knowledge that we got was used to spread awareness about the achievements of human race in space research to the people.

Our major focus was on how to reach people in order to make awareness about solar parker. We decided to make two different type of approach to achieve this. To grab attention we created a Parker Dodge game and used this as testing material to check common people are interested to learn and experience about it. We tested the game with our parents and mentors and verified their reaction towards it. Once they played the game they started to ask questions about the elements and we were happy that our intend was actually working perfectly. So we showed them the exhibits and explained them the details.

The most interesting part of our journey was creating the game and the exhibits. We created everything from the scratch and used waste or unused materials for the same.

We would like to thank Unique World Robotics for introducing the NASA Space app challenge to us and for mentoring us to achieve our goal. Ms. Akhila R. Gomez, Mr. Abhinav Kannan, Mr.Anu Karthik, Ms. Jithin Anu Jose were most helpful in developing the game and exhibits. They guided us when we were stuck at different points and uplifted us to try our best. Mr. Rishyan Raj, Ms. Akshaya P. V. have guided us in creating videos for the challenge. We would like to thank Rev. Jijo P. Sunny, Principal of our school (Marthoma Central School, Cherunniyoor) for his encouragement and support throughout the journey. We would like to thank our parents and friends who supported and gave their genuine views about the solution that we created and make them better.