Alien Artifacts Division

Focus: Creative, Fun, and Novel Applications

Mission Details

This is the "wildcard" track. Your mission is to build the weird, wonderful, and unexpected artifacts that future explorers might find. This track is less about pure scientific accuracy and more about user experience, art, and answering "what if?"

If you have a strange idea that combines space data with music, poetry, or a fun game, this is your track. We challenge you to surprise us by mixing APIs in ways nobody else has thought of. Create something delightful, strange, or just plain fun.

Potential Project Vectors

  • Ship's Computer Interface: Recreate the LCARS interface from Star Trek, but hook it up to the live NASA/SpaceX APIs to show *real* ship (ISS) status and "stellar" phenomena (APOD).
  • APOD-Poet: An app that pulls the Astronomy Picture of the Day, analyzes it with a vision model, and uses a text-generation AI to write a short, unique poem about the image.
  • Mars Rover "Postcards": A fun app that lets you pick a real Mars Rover photo, add a "Wish you were here!" filter, and write a message to send to friends.
  • Exoplanet "Real Estate": A humorous Zillow-style app for browsing exoplanets, complete with generated descriptions of their "amenities" and "drawbacks."

Example Project: 'Stellar Radio'

Concept: Generative "Space Radio"

A generative "space radio" application that creates ambient music and atmospheric soundscapes based on real-time cosmic data. The user tunes a dial, not to a frequency, but to a data source.

Core Features:

  • Uses `Tone.js` or a similar web audio library to create sound.
  • The "bassline" or "drone" is driven by the ISS's current orbital speed or altitude.
  • "Melodies" or "pings" are generated from (simulated) pulsar data, creating a cosmic rhythm.
  • "Static" or "flares" in the music are triggered by real-time solar weather events from the DONKI API.
  • The UI looks like an old-fashioned analog radio tuner.

Data Feeds:

Open Notify (for ISS data), NASA DONKI (for solar flares), and a static dataset of pulsar timings.

Register for Mission