Inspiration
When thinking about the dangers of space, one might think about the endless vacuum, the freezing temperatures, or the lack of air. What usually escapes everyone's mind however, is the fact that many hunks of random materials are floating around in space, just waiting to collide with our important machines.
What it does
Our software calculates the probability of space debris and asteroids colliding with our satellites. In order to warn our scientists before the untimely event. We also included a user interface, which allows the user to expand, collapse, close, and move around the window displaying our generated data.
How we built it
We decided to use python code in order to randomize different variables, such as the speed, size and density of these asteroids, to calculate what attributes these debris need in order to collide with our satellites.
Challenges we ran into
There was a problem we had with values of the variable, where our calculations were off by only 0.0003, but still had a massive impact on the software. We eventually located the incorrect variable, and fixed it to the right value.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
This project actually allowed many of our team members to start, or continue their journey learning python, and all the progress we made together is honestly astonishing.
What we learned
While determining the values possible for these variables, the team actually had to read several papers online from google scholar in order to get a grasp on the vast knowledge of physics, and how they work in the endless void of space.
What's next for the Debris Satellite Collision Probability Calculator
What's next is that we hope to be able to continue adding to the code and give it more features, and make it able to calculate for specific satellites, and for us to find a way to stop the collisions, whether it be from ballistic missiles, maneuvering, or some other tactic.
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