High-Level Project Summary
Learn about the geology of Jezero Crater and listen to a geologic inspired soundscape. Colour-coded satellite imagery allow the user to easily identify the different geologic units in the crater regardless of their prior understanding of geology. Music was composed to represent the intensity of the processes which formed each unit. The descriptions were written in simple English. The combination of technology, imagery, and music provided the user with many methods of engaging with the science and appeals to different learning styles. The site also includes accessibility features.
Link to Final Project
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
The project is a website built using React (JavaScript). The user is presented with a welcome message and image of Jezero Crater, taken by a satellite. By clicking the image, the user can navigate to the next image and associated geologic unit, or they can jump around using the top left navigation bar. The site plays music and has the option for captions describing the music being played to be switched on. The combination of colour-coded imagery, music, and explanations written in simple English, means that the bar to understanding what the user is looking at is kept low.
We hoped to create something easy to use and understand that was also accessible. The web app was programmed in React, the images colour-coded in Adobe Photoshop, and the music composed using standard music software.
Space Agency Data
Main site image: Jezero Crater image credited to 'ESA/DLR/FU-Berlin'
This image provides an amazing view of the Jezero Crater river delta as well as the Seitah and Maaz units. For anyone familiar with marine geology, this beautiful image retains the characteristics of a river meeting a lake incredibly well. The image was used to teach users about the geology of Jezero Crater.
Hackathon Journey
This was both of our first hackathon. I (the programmer) used this hackathon as an opportunity to learn React, a framework for front-end development. This hackathon project encapsulates everything I learnt about React over two days. I learned how to create React components to create reusable buttons and images, and how to use sound in such a project.
Our approach involved dividing the work between code and music composition, as that was our two members interests and skills. We decided on how many "pages" the site would have and decided to compose one loop-able sound file for each. The main setbacks were related to this being our programmers first experience in using React. Challenges were resolved through intense googling of code issues and by watching many, many tutorials.
Overall, our experience was a positive one of learning.
References
Tags
#jezerocrater, #mars, #perseverance, #geology, #astrobiology, #ESA, #art, #music, #rover