SPACEify

The Earth is dying. Companies like SpaceX are avidly seeking ways to inhabit new territories via space travel. Education is the key to this solution and may one day inspire someone to innovate.

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Inspiration

It's all over the news. The Earth isn't going to be here forever and Mars is our closest solution, but Elon Musk cannot pioneer this movement forever. We found that in order to breed the next generation of scientists and innovators we need to address the root of the solution. The goal of our program is to provide an interactive and fun platform for young students to learn about the solar system and to inspire space travel. Back in elementary/middle school, we were only given access to databases and boring websites that made space (something that is really cool!) seem uninteresting and work-burdening. Our hope is that this website provides an alternative to these generic resources and create a gateway for students to explore the many facets of space travel and exploration.

What it does

The main page of our website is a brief overview of our solar system. The user is then able to interact and click on each planet to learn more about each one. This website can be used in so many ways! For example, if a student is studying for an exam, this website can be an alternative to flashcards! The short nuggets of information and images provided in each planet summary are meant to reinforce the user's knowledge by associating visual keys to textual values. Our logic is that if we create something that is applicable and easy to visualize, the solar system will be much more entertaining and so much easier to learn.

How we built it

We created a website that is fundamentally composed of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. In addition, we utilized the GSAP API in order to create a better flow for the website and to enhance the user experience. The purpose of this website is to be fun to use and so we put as many application based images as possible! The development environment we decided that would be best for this project is Visual Studio Code. Along with GitHub, GitKraken, and Ubuntu, we were able to easily collaborate and push changes to our project files.

Challenges we ran into

One of the aspects of web development that make it hard is the fact that errors may not always be easy to spot! The error that most often comes up are semantic errors, which are time consuming and difficult to prevent. In addition, we needed to learn how to use the GSAP API and implement it which took time and getting use to. Overall, all of these challenges added to the fun and we wouldn't be here without them!

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Learning how to combine HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and GSAP was in itself and accomplishment for us. At times, it was difficult to handle all at once but we were able to stay focused and overcame this roadblock. Using GitKraken and GitHub to collaborate was also an accomplishment since we are not used to using it to this degree. Overall though, we stayed organized and made sure that any errors were addressed as soon as possible.

What we learned

Learning how to use these JavaScript based APIs and project management tools are skills that we will keep forever and plan to use in the future. Familiarizing ourselves with web development again was also fun and engaging. Overall, making a project that is a culmination of all our knowledge is satisfying and fulfilling. These new experiences is the key to our success.

What's next for SPACEify

The most important aspect about SPACEify is that there is so much that you can do with it!! SPACEify is a flexible resource that can easily be expanded to more advanced concepts so that students can continue to use it as they excel through their educational career. We are planning to add different levels of difficulty and divisions of knowledge that the user can choose in order to match their preferences.

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