Inspiration Watch

Inspiration

Millions of people across the world look to the skies to see a glimpse of the International Space Station as it crosses through their horizons. It is a tremendous thing to be part of the spaceflight community. Many of us were inspired by the feats of space programs of last century to become engineers, scientists, and technologists- as such, this project represents the inspiration that binds us all together!

We seek to connect people who love space or have a yearning to learn to the technology to fuel their passions by being connecting the Astronauts and Cosmonauts. The low cost nature of this hack allows us to connect people in developing nations with enthusiasm for the future!

What it does

Inspiration Watch uses telemetry data from the International Space Station to project its course across in any room, even as big as Lambert Field-house, as it orbits the Earth. The use of a laser beam allows the user to watch the exact path it takes across the sky from their point of view.

How I built it

Using a 200 step (1.8 degree/step) stepper motor and HS-311 servo, we were able to create a two degree of freedom platform. An arduino Uno and Adafruit Motor Shield V2 were used to drive them. The arduino software parses the ISS real-time flight data via connection to NASA servers and drives the stepper for full 360 degree field of view in the angular direction. The servo motor projects the laser beam in the radial direction to display the location of the ISS on the ceiling or walls of the room.

A python program is written on a small computer to access the servers and communicate through a serial connection the arduino, as it is not wifi capable.

A .5W laser is used to display the location and features a power switch for optimal control.

Challenges I ran into

Collectively, we faced several challenges. We really wanted to do a hardware hack of sorts, but the relative lack of resources was very difficult. We pivoted several times from other servo-arduino projects before settling on a good prospective idea. The communication type and parsing from python to the arduino served as a key challenge to make sure the data types lined up and were read into the correct fashion. We hit barriers with backed-up data streams interfering with incoming data resulting in a failure of the program. Flushing out the serial lines after each parseFloat allowed us to stop this issue and have regular communication periods with the arduino.

Additionally, the arduino motor library limits the accuracy of the displayed laser. Since a stepper motor has steps of 1.8 degrees, we had to determine the optimal time discretization to minimize error accumulation from dropping decimals. The servos require a integer angle so optimizing the servo's requirements and the stepper's requirements was non-trivial.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

We created a functional, accurate representation of where the ISS is in the sky at any given time. I plan to make one of these 3D printed for myself and open-source the code to allow anyone with basic github knowledge to make on at home themselves. Open sourcing this information gives me pride since many projects similar to this are restricted access or require payment.

What I learned

Serial communication issues interfacing with python and how the serial monitor acts when you submit information to it. Also motor control with an arduino motor shield.

What's next for Inspiration Watch

We plan to open source this code on SteveMacenski's github to allow easy access to anyone and have clear step-by-step instructions in making one for yourself (including CAD models of structural components)! Also I plan to refine the structure and make it a permanent addition to my home, lab, and life.

The opportunity to work on this project has allowed me to complete a project I have wanted to make for years and gives me joy to share our passion of space with the generation shaped by its impact on society.