3D Asteroid Viewer – Polytechnic

INSTITUTION

Arizona State University (Polytechnic Campus)

Class

Iron Class (2018 – 2019)

Student TEAM

Phillip Hanson, Information Technology
Ryan Headley, Information Technology
Hugo Lackmann, Information Technology

Scientific & Technical Guidance

Dr. Daniel Wenkert, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Academic Guidance

Vivek Chacko, ASU (Masters Student in Information Technology)
Dr. Usha Jagannathan, IT Graduate Program Chair, ASU Polytechnic School IT Programs
Dr. Tatiana Walsh, Faculty Associate, ASU Polytechnic School IT Programs

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The team’s objective for this project was to create a functional web-based 3D viewer that would be accessible on multiple platforms. In order to achieve this, the team created 3D views of various planetary bodies, including Mars’ moon Phobos. This project served as a precursor to a 3D viewer that might be used with data from the Psyche asteroid in the future. The development of a 3D viewer was proposed to prepare to allow the data collected from the Psyche asteroid to be readily displayed and accessible to the public, allowing individuals to move the asteroid and study its surface.

This shows a screenshot from the 3D Asteroid Viewer. It shows a black background with a lumpy grey 3D moon (Phobos) and a point of interest on the surface represented by a blue box.

3D Asteroid Viewer

This work was created in partial fulfillment of Arizona State University Capstone Courses “IFT 401-402”. The work is a result of the Psyche Student Collaborations component of NASA’s Psyche Mission (https://psyche.asu.edu). “Psyche: A Journey to a Metal World” [Contract number NNM16AA09C] is part of the NASA Discovery Program mission to solar system targets. Trade names and trademarks of ASU and NASA are used in this work for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by Arizona State University or National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of ASU or NASA.