Project Impact - Context
During the NASA Space Apps Challenge 2025, our team participated in the "Meteor Madness" challenge, which focused on creating tools to help the public and decision-makers understand and mitigate the risks of near-Earth asteroids like "Impactor-2025." The challenge required integrating NASA and USGS datasets and scientific rigor to simulate asteroid impacts and evaluate potential mitigation strategies, all while making the information accessible and engaging for a wide audience.
Simulation of a collision between
a meteorite and Earth
For our first solution, we developed a Godot-based simulation that allows users to interactively model collisions between Earth and a parametrizable asteroid. Users can adjust variables such as size, velocity, and trajectory, and then observe the resulting impacts in real time. This approach provides a realistic and immersive experience, making complex physics and environmental consequences understandable and visually engaging.
Explain what will happen if a meteorite hit the Earth at a point
Our second solution leverages a large language model (LLM) to explain what would happen if a user, define asteroid were to strike Earth. Users can create their own scenarios by specifying asteroid characteristics and receive detailed, comprehensible explanations of potential effects, including environmental and societal consequences. This LLM turns scientific data into an accessible educational tool, allowing everyone to explore "what-if" scenarios in a highly interactive way.
Save the Earth ! The Eligius Mission
To make the concept of planetary defense accessible, we designed "Eligius Mission," an educational mini-game inspired by real-world deflection missions. The player takes control of a specialized spacecraft, challenged to execute a maneuver (such as a kinetic impact or a gravity tractor pull) to divert a threat-level asteroid before it impacts Earth. This game provides a fun and interactive way to grasp the principles of orbital mechanics and the physics of asteroid deflection, turning complex science into an immediate, engaging experience.