Space Apps Challenge 2018

HELLO UNIVERSE is a global initiative to inspire and give voice to humanity, by using technology to share our story in an epic journey of reflection, discovery, and exploration.

SUMMARY

Hello Universe will engage the citizens of Earth and encourage humanity to collectively think of our global existence on this pale blue dot. The project will use technological advances to connect us and share the story of Earth's life, people, and understanding of the universe. Its discovery will teach an advanced extraterrestrial civilization about human culture and our solar system.

THE CHALLENGE

Technology can be perceived as a barrier to humanity and inclusiveness, due to it’s undisciplined influences and usage in our day-to-day lives. Something that was made to connect us, is actually disconnecting us further apart from humanity. Technology should be used as a tool to enhance our lives, not take over our lives. It should enable us, not replace us.

THE SOLUTION

To regenerate inclusion in humanity, Hello Universe pays homage and tribute to the original Golden Record that traveled on the Voyager missions. We will leverage appropriate technology to collect content that will educate an advanced spacefaring civilization about humanity and our solar system.

MISSION OVERVIEW

To deploy this mission, we will (hopefully!) forge a partnership with The Planetary Society and join in their ongoing journey to explore controlled solar sailing using a CubeSat artificial satellite.

LightSail propulsion relies on solar radiation pressure from sunlight to produce a small degree of acceleration on the sail. LightSail 2 will be launched aboard a Space X Falcon Heavy rocket as a secondary payload into Earth orbit. Hello Universe imagines joining in a launch on a LightSail 3 or LightSail 4 mission that extends beyond Earth orbit.

INFORMATION STORAGE

While the twin Voyager spacecrafts each carried actual physical copies of the Golden Record, with modern technology, it is possible to store an incredibly large amount of information on a very small chip. This was a significant consideration for the Hello Universe team, as we must keep the weight and size of the information storage device as low and small as possible. But we don't want our intelligent extraterrestrial friends to miss our message!

Carl Sagan made an appearance in 1976 on The Tonight Show, during which he demonstrated and discussed his dream of solar sailing. He envisioned that a large emblem could be branded onto the solar sail. We will launch a global art contest and the winning artwork will be included in the design, to help bring Carl's vision to life.

Alternate launch and deployment options that have been taken into consideration include electrical sails and plasma magnet propulsion. The Hello Universe team would consult with professional engineers and experts and get advice before making a final determination on the method.

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN AND MILESTONES

Phase 1: Partnerships (2018 to mid-2019)

• Explore partnership opportunities with The Planetary Society (launch and spacecraft), as well as space agencies and organizations around the world.
• By partnering with an organization like The Planetary Society, we can make this project a reality by including it on a future LightSail launch. By leveraging their resources for launch, outreach, promotions, and public engagement, we will reach our goal of creating and sending Hello Universe out into the cosmos.

Phase 2: Promotion (Summer 2019)

• www.hello-universe.co is the online location where citizens of the world can contribute to the project, and where our ongoing story will be told.
• Social media engagement (#HelloUniverse, Twitter @hellouniverse__) will create awareness of the initiative, extend our reach, and promote the project.

Phase 3: Participation (Fall 2019)

• Upload messages and files at www.hello-universe.co
• Everyone on Earth is invited and encouraged to share their content for inclusion:
• Content that can be submitted includes (but is not limited to) Art, Music, Science, Technology, Math, Maps, Video, Data, Language, Culture, Traditions, Photos, Literature, Human Knowledge & Stories.
• Scientific data will be included to teach extraterrestrials about the Solar System, our cosmological knowledge of the Universe, along with our understanding of life, DNA, chemistry, anatomy, reproduction, animals, insects, plants, water/ocean/lakes, and more.
• Will include the digitized contents of the original Golden Record along with what we have leaned since then.

Phase 4: Preparation (Winter 2019)

• The submitted data will be organized and added to the Hello Universe hardware to be added to the Solar Sail. The winner of the global art contest will be announced and the winning artwork will be added to the Solar Sail. All the submissions that are received will be geotagged and included in the largest digital mapping project ever imagined. The content will be open and accessible for everyone to explore.

Phase 5: Launch! (Spring 2020)

Hello Universe will launch with a future Solar Sail mission on a rocket from a leading aerospace company. It will take humanity's messages and lessons on a journey

Phase 6: Reflection (ongoing)

While Hello Universe propels through time and space on beams of sunlight, humanity will follow its journey, and will be able to learn more about ourselves and life on Earth through access to the submissions from our global neighbours and friends.

By sending a collective love letter out into the universe, together we are also writing a message home to each other.

ACCESSIBILITY AND INCLUSIVITY

The goal of Hello Universe is to create an open, inclusive, and accessible initiative that ensures that all people around the world are able to participate in the project. Minimizing barriers is an important factor for our team to implement.

Hello Universe will enable the following accessibility considerations:

• Reading: provide access to a program that can read the content to you (ex: Android Accessibility Suite)
• Writing: provide access to voice-to-text programs (ex: Google translate)
• Visual: provide accessible online content that takes into consideration the text colour (colourblind-safe palette) and offers users different text size choices, allowing the person to see text more clearly. Since 8% of men and 0.5% of women have a colour vision deficiency, it is necessary to provide accommodations to ensure that all participants have a positive and user-friendly experience taking part in Hello Universe.
• Lack of internet access:
  • Family members may submit on their behalf.
  • Mailing campaign: There are mail services across the world. Participants can write their submission by hand and submit their contribution. It will be converted into digital content for submission.
  • We will consider additional strategies to ensure that internet access is not a barrier to participation.
• Further research will be done to identify any other areas in which inclusivity and accessibility can be increased, to ensure that everyone can take part in the Hello Universe project.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL MEDIA

Visit us online at http://www.hello-universe.co to learn more about Hello Universe. Make sure you fill out the form to submit your message, image, video, artwork - or anything you wish to share with the Universe!

Connect with Hello Universe on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hellouniverse__ and use the hashtag #HelloUniverse across all social media channels!

IMPACT

The Hello Universe project, if discovered by an intelligent extraterrestrial civilization, signifies that we exist(ed), and that humanity accomplished attainment of knowledge, discovery, intelligence, happiness, and exuberance from our life here on Earth.

We are curious and social beings, and wonder about life beyond our planet. There is a word in every language to greet others. Hello Universe is one universal greeting encompassing pieces of our existence, experience, and knowledge, in a friendly introduction to an unknown receiver.

RESOURCES

Hello Universe website: http://www.hello-universe.co

Learn more about the Golden Record at https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/

Learn more about NASA's Voyager missions at https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov

Learn more about LightSail from The Planetary Society at http://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/lightsai...