Space Land 🚀 – Your Home in Space (NASA Space Apps Challenge 2025)

Team: Luciana, Mateo, Matías, Antu, Maite Challenge: Your Home in Space
Event: NASA Space Apps Challenge 2025, Chile

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🌍 What is Space Land?

Space Land is a web application designed for the "Your Home in Space" challenge at NASA Space Apps 2025.
It lets users design their own off-world habitat by combining real engineering trade-offs, NASA-inspired modules, and playful interactivity.

Key Features:

• Choose your mission: build for the Moon, Mars, or in Orbit.
• Select habitat construction method: inflatable, prefab, or ISRU (in-situ resource utilization).
• Place and arrange modules (labs, greenhouses, solar panels, etc.) on an interactive 2D grid editor.
• See your habitat's Viability Index (VI) calculated in real-time, based on food, water, O₂, energy, and space—using NASA data and real-world astronaut needs.
• Explore your base in 3D with a real-time model viewer (Three.js).
• Educational overlays: see how different choices affect sustainability and crew survival.

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🌟 Why does this matter?

• Realism: We use NASA data on crew needs, module types, and mission constraints. All resource calculations are transparent and hackathon-documented.
• Educational Value: The app teaches users about the challenges of sustaining life beyond Earth, making abstract concepts (like O₂, energy, volume) tangible and playful.
• User Experience: Everything is interactive, visual, and easy to try—no login, no install, just build and learn.
• Scalability: The modular system lets you add new modules, planets, or constraints using simple data tables.

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🛠️ How does it work?

App Flow

1. Mission Selection: Choose your destination and construction style.
2. Editor: Place modules (drag & drop) on a grid. Each module has real stats (resource generation/storage, volume, etc.).
3. Viability Index: Enter crew size and mission days. The backend computes whether your base can support the mission. Get instant feedback!
4. 3D Viewer: View your assembled base as a 3D model (Three.js + GLTF).
5. Learn: Hover icons and results for explanations, resource breakdowns, and fun facts.

Tech Stack

• Backend: Flask (Python)
• Frontend: HTML, CSS, vanilla JS
• 3D: Three.js (GLTF models)
• Data: NASA/ESA open resources

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Run & Test

Local Setup

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone https://github.com/LuciCrack/Space-Land.git
   cd Space-Land

2. (Optional) Create a virtualenv:

   python3 -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate

3. Install requirements:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Run the app:

   flask run

   Then open http://127.0.0.1:5000/ in your browser.

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🧮 How is the Viability Index calculated?

• Inputs: Number of crew, mission duration, placed modules
• Factors: Food, O₂, Water, Energy, Volume
• Each subindex: min(available / required, 1)
• Final VI: Simple average of all subindices (so missing a resource reduces, but does not zero, the score)

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🎯 What makes Space Land unique?

• Realistic, but playful: We blend actual engineering needs with a game-like UI
• Transparent: All calculations and resource trade-offs are visible and referenced
• Extensible: Built to be a base for more advanced mission planning, STEM education, or research

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Good luck to all teams and thanks for visiting our repo!