AstroTalk

Inspiration

We were inspired to create AstroTalk from the hackathon theme, Astro. We wanted to involve peoples' communication with the theme. We figured the best way to do this was to allow anyone to send whatever audio they wanted via radio into space so the signal wouldn't go away for thousands and thousands of years.

What it does

AstroTalk allows anyone to upload an MP3 of their choosing to astrotalk.tk. The file is added to a queue that will built up until the next AstroTalk broadcast. Once the time is reached for a broadcast, signal is sent out of the atmosphere into space. Due to the nature of the high frequency and high power signal, the message isn't lost for thousands and thousands of years.

How we built it

First, a high power radio transmitter was designed and custom made on perf board to meet the specs for escaping the atmosphere. Then, a yagi antenna was built out of PVC and measuring tape specifically for our transmitter. The antenna and transmitter were attached to a telescope so that the directional antenna could be aligned with its target. We then created a web client that allowed anyone to upload their own MP3 to a queue that would eventually be sent out by the transmitter to whatever target was chosen.

Challenges we ran into

We ran into many challenges along the way but we tried our best and overcame them. First, we did not have the correct capacitance capacitor for the LC circuit in the transmitter. We overcame this by manually solving equations to find a new capacitance and inductor value. Then, we did not have enough materials for the proper sized antenna. The sizing of yagi antennas is important and cannot be changed. To tackle this problem, we ran out to ace hardware with less than a half day left and got the necessary parts to finish the hackathon.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of having a fully working system that accomplished most of what we wanted it to do. As far as we know, we are the first people to transmit bass boosted among us drip at starcluster M69. The best part of the project so far is after completion when our friends had fun uploading their favorite songs and the audio for some of their videos with friends. We accomplished our main goal: lengthening and strengthening human communication through space.

What we learned

We learned many things in physics, astronomy, and computer science throughout this project. First, after our issue sourcing a capacitor for the LC circuit, we learned how to derive equations from those for LC resonance frequencies and coil inductance. When trying to tell the user how far the message is from earth, we learned about the movements of radio waves, and more specifically photons, in space. Finally, we learned a lot about building websites that collect user uploaded data.

What's next for AstroTalk

Next, having a more stable server would be the most immediate goal. After that, an auto focus/alignment telescope would be very beneficial in increasing broadcasts. A feature that we did not get to finish implementing was voting on where to aim in the sky. We would also like to have accounts to track messages better.