Inspiration

As humanity continues to explore the possibility of establishing long-term settlements beyond Earth, ensuring astronaut safety becomes increasingly important. Living and working on the Moon introduces challenges that human do no typically encounter on Earth, including unfamiliar terrain, limited life-sustaining resources, and the absence of a fully established GPS infrastructure. The initial idea was inspired by the Space Brothers manga (it's peak)

Our team wanted to explore how technology could help astronauts overcome these challenges, particularly when navigating the lunar surface.

We began with a simple question: How can astronauts safely navigate the Moon while monitoring the resources and environmental conditions necessary for their survival?

This question inspired us to develop L.I.F.E (Lunar Integration Framework for Exploration), a lunar navigation and safely simulation system designed to demonstrate how astronauts could navigate unfamiliar terrain, monitor essential resources, and make informed decisions during lunar exploration.

Our goal was to create more than a GPS simulator. We wanted to explore how navigation technology could contribute to sustaining human life in an extreme off-Earth environment.

What it does

L.I.F.E. is an interactive lunar navigation and survival simulation system designed to assist astronauts exploring the Moon while accounting for environmental hazards and resource limitations.

The system combines simulated astronaut tracking, satellite-based positioning, route planning, and oxygen monitoring to demonstrate how future lunar exploration systems could support astronaut safety.

Astronaut Position Tracking: L.I.F.E. maintains simulated astronaut information, including location coordinates and available oxygen. Users can select an astronaut, retrieve their current position, and update their location as they move across the simulated lunar environment.

Simulated Satellite Positioning: Our system incorporates a satellite-positioning simulation that uses three simulated satellites and trilateration to estimate an astronaut's location. By calculating distances between the astronaut and the satellites, L.I.F.E. demonstrates how positioning information can be derived mathematically.

Lunar Route Navigation: L.I.F.E. allows users to request navigation routes between two locations on a simulated lunar map. The system supports different travel methods, including xEMU suits, unpressurized rovers, pressurized cruisers, and lunar hoppers. Route information includes estimated distance, travel time, and risk-related information.

Hazard Awareness: The system incorporates simulated environmental hazards into its navigation calculations to help users identify potentially dangerous terrain and make safer travel decisions.

Oxygen Monitoring: L.I.F.E. estimates oxygen consumption during astronaut movement and planned travel. By evaluating the oxygen required for a journey, the system can help determine whether an astronaut has sufficient resources to complete a route.

Emergency Monitoring: The system includes emergency-monitoring logic that evaluates astronaut oxygen levels and demonstrates how resource monitoring could contribute to astronaut safety.

How we built it

L.I.F.E. was developed using a combination of frontend web technologies, a Python backend, and mathematical simulation techniques. Our system follows a frontend-backend architecture in which users interact with a lunar map interface while the backend processes navigation requests, astronaut information, and safety-related calculations.

Frontend Development

The frontend was developed using React, Vite, and React Leaflet. These technologies provide the foundation for an interactive lunar navigation interface and allow the application to communicate with the backend through API requests.

Map and Interaction The map uses a Apollo 11 image as a Leaflet overlay with CRS.Simple, so that positions are XY coordinates. Markers, hazards, and astronauts are drawn over using those coordinates. User can select locations, inspect markers, and plan routes while monitoring the astronauts' status. The tracker in the bottom right shows the lunar coordinates and elevation (only visual).

Navigation The frontend sends the start, destination, and vehicle to the backed. Route options are displayed on the map and their descriptions are shown in a side panel. Users can select the route and simulate traveling (updated astronaut position and status)

Backend Development

The backend was developed using Python and FastAPI to manage communication between the frontend and the application's navigation, positioning, and safety systems.

We organized the backend into separate components for API routes, data models, application services, and simulated data. This modular architecture allowed us to separate responsibilities and develop different features without placing all the application logic into a single file.

The backend handles astronaut information, position updates, navigation requests, environmental hazards, oxygen monitoring, emergency conditions, and simulated satellite positioning.

We also used FastAPI's automatic API documentation to test endpoints throughout development. Since our initial goal was to create a functional hackathon prototype, we prioritized local development and in-memory data storage rather than introducing an external database or deployment infrastructure.

Navigation and Positioning

For our lunar navigation system, we implemented the A (A-Star) pathfinding algorithm* to calculate efficient routes across the simulated lunar surface. A* is a search algorithm that determines a path between two locations by evaluating both the distance already traveled and the estimated remaining distance to the destination.

We chose A* because it allows our navigation system to consider more than just the shortest distance. By incorporating simulated environmental hazards into the pathfinding process, L.I.F.E. can identify routes that avoid dangerous areas while still providing efficient navigation.

When an astronaut selects a destination, the backend processes their current coordinates, identifies potential obstacles, and uses A* to calculate a route through the simulated lunar environment. The resulting route is returned to the frontend, where it can be visualized on the lunar map.

Additionally, our navigation system incorporates oxygen-consumption estimates and different transportation methods, allowing astronauts to evaluate routes based on travel distance, estimated travel time, potential hazards, and available oxygen.

By combining A pathfinding, hazard awareness, and resource monitoring*, L.I.F.E. demonstrates how navigation technology could help astronauts make safer and more informed decisions while exploring the Moon.

Specifically, to enable these route evaluations, our system applies a 5-stage hazard detection algorithm that utilizes NASA’s 13 Artemis III candidate landing sites to monitor steep slopes, PSR cold traps, communication blackouts, regolith dust abrasion, and solar radiation thresholds.

Additionally, it models terrain-adaptive travel speeds using a slope-based speed attenuation formula and estimates dynamic oxygen consumption based on metabolic rates and vehicle parameters.

Simulation and Safety

The safety components focus on monitoring oxygen availability and identifying potential emergency conditions. Oxygen-consumption estimates are incorporated into route calculations to evaluate whether an astronaut has sufficient oxygen for a planned journey.

For the simulation and safety components, we developed three interconnected systems: oxygen monitoring, simulated satellite positioning, and emergency detection.

Our oxygen-monitoring system calculates the astronaut's remaining oxygen supply and percentage based on their maximum capacity. We implemented three safety classifications: SAFE (above 40%), WARNING (above 20% and up to 40%), and CRITICAL (20% or below). Oxygen consumption is also estimated based on travel distance, incline, and the selected transportation method. These calculations are integrated into route planning so users can view projected oxygen usage and determine whether an astronaut has sufficient oxygen before beginning a journey. During simulated movement, the astronaut's oxygen supply is updated accordingly.

For satellite positioning, we implemented a simplified trilateration system using three simulated satellites with known coordinates. By calculating the distances between each satellite and the astronaut, the system mathematically estimates the astronaut's position on the lunar map.

Finally, our emergency-monitoring system evaluates oxygen status and nearby environmental hazards to determine astronaut safety levels, while also providing estimated satellite positioning information.

Together, these simulation components demonstrate how resource monitoring, positioning technology, and automated safety alerts can support decision-making during lunar exploration.

Technologies Used: Python, FastAPI, Pydantic, React, Vite, React Leaflet, NumPy, Git, GitHub, and Visual Studio Code.

Challenges we ran into

Developing L.I.F.E. within a limited hackathon timeframe required us to balance technical complexity, functionality, and collaboration.

One of our primary challenges was determining how to translate the concept of lunar GPS into a functional simulation. Unlike Earth, the Moon does not have an established GPS system that we could simply integrate into our application. We therefore needed to represent positioning and navigation through simulated coordinates and mathematical calculations.

Another challenge was designing the application so that navigation and safety monitoring could work together. Rather than calculating routes based solely on distance, we wanted to consider additional factors such as environmental hazards, travel methods, and oxygen availability.

Coordinating the frontend, backend, and simulation components was also an important part of the development process. Since different team members were working on separate features simultaneously, we needed to ensure that the components could communicate effectively.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

One of our biggest accomplishments was transforming an initial lunar GPS concept into a broader navigation and survival simulation.

Rather than focusing solely on location tracking, we explored how navigation could be combined with resource monitoring and environmental awareness to support astronaut safety.

We are particularly proud of developing a system architecture that brings together multiple technical components, including astronaut positioning, route calculations, oxygen estimates, and simulated satellite tracking.

Another accomplishment was implementing mathematical trilateration to simulate how astronauts could determine their positions using satellite reference points. This allowed us to explore the technical principles behind positioning systems rather than relying exclusively on predefined coordinates.

We are also proud of incorporating oxygen monitoring into our navigation calculations, connecting route planning with one of the most important considerations for sustaining human life beyond Earth.

What we learned

Throughout this hackathon, we gained experience developing a multidisciplinary software project under significant time constraints.

We explored how navigation algorithms, mathematical positioning techniques, frontend visualization, and backend services can work together within a single application.

We also learned more about the challenges associated with designing technology for environments where traditional Earth-based infrastructure is unavailable.

From a software development perspective, this project strengthened our understanding of API integration, modular application design, version control, and collaborative development.

Most importantly, L.I.F.E. encouraged us to think about how software engineering can contribute to solving challenges related to human safety and survival beyond Earth.

What's next for L.I.F.E

Although L.I.F.E. began as a hackathon prototype, we see several opportunities to expand the project into a more comprehensive lunar exploration and safety simulation platform.

Real Lunar Terrain Data: Future versions could incorporate actual lunar terrain and elevation datasets to provide more realistic navigation simulations.

Advanced Satellite Positioning: We would like to expand the satellite simulation to incorporate moving satellites, signal limitations, positioning uncertainty, and more realistic orbital behavior.

Improved Navigation Algorithms: Additional development could introduce more advanced terrain-aware routing, elevation analysis, and route optimization.

Enhanced Survival Monitoring: Future versions could monitor additional life-sustaining resources, including water, energy reserves, spacesuit conditions, and environmental exposure.

Real-Time Mission Monitoring: We could expand the platform to support multiple astronauts and provide mission control with a centralized view of astronaut locations and safety conditions.

Deployment and Persistent Storage: As the project grows, we could introduce persistent data storage and deploy the application to make it accessible beyond a local development environment.

Ultimately, our long-term vision is to develop L.I.F.E. into a simulation platform that demonstrates how navigation, environmental awareness, and resource management could support future human exploration and settlement beyond Earth.