High-Level Project Summary
NASA has carried out numerous scientific missions to improve human life. One of them is the Mars Science Laboratory mission that was responsible for the creation of the Curiosity rover that aims to discover signs of life on Mars and whether or not it can be inhabited. We targeted this mission in order to convey its various scientific details through techniques that utilize STEAM. Additionally, we considered the factor of inclusivity through language since language in one of the biggest factors that divides people. Thus, our site provides creative and interactive content about Curiosity and MSL which can be understood by everyone as it is simple, and can be translated.
Link to Final Project
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
Our project is an interactive website as well as its respective mobile app version (for Android). It targets the Mars Science Laboratory mission and the Curiosity rover in order to convey its details through tactics that use STEAM.
Our site firstly includes interactive elements from NASA's site such as daily weather reports from Curiosity, and the 3D model of Curiosity. This way, the audience will be attracted to the other features of the site as the very start.
Our first section involves conveying scientific information of our targeted mission through the art of animation and game-making. The animation conveys the history as well as amazing facts about the Curiosity rover, and utilizes animations and the 3D model of the rover by NASA. The game is made from Quiz Maker and involves an interactive scientific quiz regarding the information conveyed by the video. This section also includes a link to a database we created that contains information about various well-rated books that cover the topic of MSL and Curiosity.
Next comes the section of technology. This includes a React App from a GitHub repository that we modified in order to serve our purpose. The app covered the footage of all rovers on Mars, but we modified it to focus on only Curiosity. NASA's open API is used here. The artistic factor of this feature is the use of code to utilize the API, since coding itself is an art. This will also teach the audience the different cameras installed on Curiosity.
Then is the part that covers the engineering of the rover through arts. This section includes videos of us sketching the rover through a comic as well as constructing its simple 3D model. The purpose of this section is to convey the information regarding the construction and engineering of Curiosity through simple artistic videos.
Finally, we have Mathematics. This also includes the art of animation and game-making. The animation conveys mathematical information about the Curiosity rover in an interactive way while the quiz game is made with Scratch.
Since inclusivity is a major part of our project, we have accomplished it by removing the language barrier in two ways:
1. Embedding Google Translate Element so that the site content can be translated to any language.
2. Uploading our videos/animations to YouTube so that they can be translated through subtitles in any language.
3. Use of simple language so that translations may not be hard to interpret.
Mobile App APK: https://appsgeyser.io/16080365/XEMPLARY?_ga=2.172037536.2091512610.1664735857-1941286862.1664735857
Space Agency Data
There were quite a few resources that we required from NASA in order to create our project. They were:
1. To make our site interactive, we used and embedded elements such as the Curiosity rover 3D model and the daily weather reports transmitted by Curiosity in our project. The model was not only embedded, but also used in an animation.
2. Our site involves a React App which we discovered through a GitHub repository (referenced). The app used the NASA open API to display footages of the rovers on Mars. We modified the interface of the app, as well as edited it to make it focus on only the Curiosity rover. For the functionality of the app, we generated an open API key via NASA's Open API website.
3. Our site involves a lot of content that revolves around the scientific, technological, mathematical, artistic, and engineering-related details of the Curiosity rover and the Mars Science Laboratory mission. We gathered this data by reading numerous articles by NASA on their website as well as watching a lot of videos and animations by NASA on YouTube and other platforms.
Hackathon Journey
The overall experience of this event was just marvelous. Besides learning numerous artistic and programming tactics, some important skills that we learnt were teamwork, organization, and time management. It was quite challenging to tackle all that we had planned within the limited time, but in the end, we were quite satisfied with the outcome.
STEAM is something we have always been deeply involved in, and considering the fact that we were lovers of space, we knew plenty about quite a few of NASA's historical missions. Thus, this challenge was the perfect fit for us,
Our team approach was that our teachers acted as our leaders, motivators, and consultants. They guided us throughout the planning of our project so that our raw ideas could be effectively realized. They encouraged us to do most of the work so that we could gain the most from the experience. On the other hand, us students tackled the involved worked in an organized way depending upon the skills of each. We were relaxed and focused because we knew that our teachers had our back, and that they would do whatever possible to ease us during crucial and high-pressure times and scenarios of the challenge.
Since our solution involved consolidation of numerous content and features, there were points where us students felt skeptical and demotivated. We felt as if we would not be able to accomplish what we had planned, and were thus disheartened. Our teachers understood our feelings and accompanied us throughout these times, and their support meant the world to us. They were the reason we were able to create what we did.
We would firstly like to thank NASA and all the partner space agencies for organizing such a platform as well as making their valuable data openly available so that passionate learners and space-lovers like us can access it and use it any way we want. Then, we would like to thank the management of our institution that supported us for the entire two days, providing us whatever resources and motivational words we required.
We would also like to thank our families for their untiring support and encouraging words.
Indeed, we put our heart and soul into this project. Qualifying and winning would mean the world, and the simple thought of it brings tears in our eyes.
References
1.Website Template:
https://bootstrapmade.com/anyar-free-multipurpose-one-page-bootstrap-theme/
Due credit has been provided in the footers of each page of the website.
2.React App GitHub repository:
https://github.com/dawidjaniga/mars-explorer
Due credit has been provided in the footer of the app as well as by keeping the commits file.
3.Background images:
https://pixabay.com/images/search/space%20wallpaper/
4.NASA Articles:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html
5.NASA Videos/Animations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4boyXQuUIw&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxVVgBAosqg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwinFP8_qIM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTB6Su4ciNc
6.Other content:
https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/24584/curiosity-rover-3d-model/
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/weather/
Tags
#software #stem #steam #mars #curiosityrover #msl #curiosity #marssciencelaboratory