Today (21/10/18) we won second place at the Singapore edition of the NASA Space Apps Challenge 2018, winning 1,000 dollars in cash, 1,500 Ocean Protocol tokens, and a place at the Global Judging for a chance to win a trip to Kennedy Space Center.
Honestly, we didn’t expect to win, as our prototype was extremely basic and we are all 15-year-olds who just came for this hackathon as we would rather do something productive than just play Fortnite all day.
Our Team
Our team name is Cloud10, because the phrase ‘on cloud nine’ represents extreme happiness and we want our platform to deliver the same happiness, but go one better. Furthermore, Cloud10, being above cloud nine, reflects how space is ‘above the clouds’ and our platform is out of this world. Also, the esports team Cloud9 would be able to lend us some of their luck this year. #LETSGOC9
Rafael: Pro businessman who brought the whole team together. Maker of slides and pitching.
Jing Hao: Semi-pro businessman who came up with all the ideas, team name, in charge of telling Robert what we wanted to achieve.
Robert: Extremely suan programmer who did nothing but code. Thanks for carry
Jiacheng: Graphics designer who literally did only two logos but was paid $100 for it
The Problem
There is a lot of space data being generated; in fact, 24 petabytes of data relating to space is generated every single year, which is 24 with 15 zeroes behind it. There is data about spacecraft launches, their flights, and data gathered by satellites as well as instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope and International Space Station.
However, this data is extremely difficult to access. Some companies may not share their data, or may hide it away in obscure web pages and force users to have to click on several different links to even have a chance at finding the data they want.
And after users receive the data they want, it is almost impossible to read unless there is an API or file of some sort. This makes data extremely difficult to interpret and creates a high barrier of entry for space enthusiasts and aspiring astropreneurs who might otherwise have brilliant, game-changing ideas.
Further Exploration
We first created a profile of a potential user who would be interested in the services we had to offer to allow us to understand what we had to do to help people understand space data.
Hence, meet Elonius Musky, long lost brother of Elon Musk.
Like his brother and many around the world, he has great interest in space and wants to build something great relating to outer space to help the world. However, he doesn’t know where he can access data from agencies such as NASA and companies such as SpaceX. In fact, while trying to build an app that will help people to determine the ideal places to watch a spacecraft launch, he spent hours upon hours just looking for a list of imminent spacecraft launches, and now has to go and find the specific weather details on that day to find out the ideal spot! (Sound familiar? Hmm…) If only there were some way for him to quickly and easily access all the data on space launches he required!
Unfortunately, Elonius never found a good way to get the data he wanted, and decided that space was not the right field for him, choosing instead to move on to his next great idea for an electric car. Wait, someone already did that?
Elonius is not alone in his problem either. For years the space industry has been complaining about a lack of innovation with the field mostly dominated by NASA, and it is only recently that companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin have attempted to create new low-cost alternatives to NASA or Russian launches. Surely a big part of this is the high barrier of entry for the space field, and the high technical requirements needed. However, with data analysis quickly gaining traction, it has become more important than ever that people are able to quickly interpret and apply data.
Our Solution
Therefore, we would like to introduce Cloud10, a platform that aggregates and visualises space data to make it accessible, understandable, and applicable for all. Simply said, we convert this:
to this:
How do we do it?
Process
First, we collect data relating to space using web robots to trawl for open-source data such as that released by agencies such as NASA and companies such as SpaceX, effectively creating a one-stop shop for any data you might require. Currently, we only support data related to spacecraft launches, though we are looking at data from spacecraft flights as well as that relating to satellites.
Afterward, we convert this data into understandable representations using GraphViS™, an intelligent, proprietary, real-time graphing system that we created. It categorises the data by type, before sorting, analysing and representing the data in a comprehensible manner using plotly.
For example, here are the next 5 spacecraft launches over the next few days.
We can see the types of rockets being used, the payload being carried, and the start and end times of the respective launches.
Furthermore, we can also use the interactive map below to zoom in further on the specific launch pads being used, as well as the weather conditions on that day.
Hence, all the data relating to spacecraft launches is collected in one place and can be easily obtained. We also plan to use this data to provide other services in the future, such as by using analysis to provide the best places to watch spacecraft launches, thus carrying on the dream of the great Elonius.
Furthermore, Cloud10 also does some analysis on data we collect to allow users to view key insights and inspire them to find new ways to use the data we provide.
This graph created using GraphViS™ depicts the change in SpaceX payload masses over time, allowing us to not only see the times that SpaceX tends to launch, but also their growth as a company due to the increase in payload masses they are able to carry, giving us valuable insight into SpaceX.
Furthermore, users are able to easily download this data for their own analysis.
Future Features
We hope to introduce different kinds of data to this platform such as flight data including trajectory, air temperature, atmosphere thickness, entry gradients etc. and satellite data, such as heatmaps, cloud movements, cyclone formation etc.
We also see a huge potential for this service in the future. Machine Learning algorithms can be introduced to further interpret data sets to predict trends from the data — such as the best viewing spots for rocket launches, as we mentioned, or appropriate fuel to payload mass ratio.
We are also interested in allowing users to upload their own data and share it with others, effectively becoming a repository for all data relating to space and a place where people can share valuable insights and findings.
Personalisation and better designed representations can also be included to increase the interactivity for the users.
Conclusion
The future of space and the industry’s survivability depends on the ability of people entering the field to access and understand data so as to provide valuable insights into our world. Cloud10, therefore, is more than just a way for people to find data; it is a gateway to the space.