Recent Space Events Information Website

Inspiration

Since the theme is space, we took inspiration from a recent geomagnetic storm caused by the sun that disrupted flights in California. This event highlighted the real-world impacts that space weather can have on our daily lives, particularly on air travel and communications. Our goal is to help users stay informed about such events and take necessary precautions.

What it does

This website displays information about three space events: coronal mass ejections, nearby asteroids, and solar flares, which occur very often. It provides details such as asteroid distance, solar flare danger/category, and CME (coronal mass ejection) danger. The website helps users—especially those in the aviation and telecommunications industries—prepare for possible disruptions caused by space events.

How we built it

We used python to extract data from NASA's DONKI (CME and FLR) and NeoWs API's and displayed it through a website. The website was made using flask, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We made figma designs for inspiration for the website design.

Challenges we ran into

Some challenges we ran into included choosing which API to use from NASA, getting the right information from the API’s, coming up with a good web design, and fixing the errors with the website’s functions.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Some accomplishments that we’re proud of are getting the program to successfully extract data from the NASA API’s, which proved to be one of the more major problems for us. We are also proud of our ability to find a relevant idea related to space.

What we learned

Throughout this project, we gained a deeper understanding of working with external APIs and handling large datasets. We learned the importance of parsing and presenting real-time data in an accessible way, especially when the information is time-sensitive and can have real-world implications. We also improved our skills in using Flask for backend development, as well as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for creating dynamic, interactive user interfaces. Some of us also learned how to use figma to make website templates.

What's next for Recent Space Events Information Website

Upon the continuation of this project, the next step would be to implement airline data to provide more specific warnings about solar flares and CME’s. We will try to collaborate with airlines to offer flights that are safer and we will use machine learning to use patterns that help provide forecasts for future trips.