🌠 Welcome to Meteor Bot App!

Meteor Bot App is an interactive educational platform that brings the science of asteroid impacts to life.
Developed by Orbit-ers, this project aims to transform real NASA and USGS data into intuitive, visual stories that empower people to understand planetary risks.

🚀 About the Project

The app integrates NASA’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) datasets for orbital modeling and USGS elevation data for terrain and impact analysis.
By combining physics-based simulation with modern web technologies, Meteor Bot App enables users to:

• 🌍 Visualize 3D asteroid orbits and query their parameters in real time.
• ☄️ Simulate asteroid impacts and explore the effects of "Impactor-2025" on Earth.
• 🌊 Analyze 2D consequence maps, including craters, shock waves, tsunamis, and local terrain impact.
• 🧠 Learn about deflection strategies and mitigation approaches through an accessible, didactic interface.

Whether you’re a scientist, educator, student, or policy-maker, our goal is to make asteroid impact science interactive, visual, and understandable.

⚙️ Installation Guide

🚀 Getting Started

Follow these steps to set up the project locally.

Before starting, make sure you have installed:

• Python 3.10+
• Node.js 18+ and npm
• Git

💡 Tip: To check if they’re installed, run in your terminal:

python --version
npm --version
git --version

If Python is not installed:

• 🐍 Go to python.org/downloads and install the latest version.
• During installation, check the box that says “Add Python to PATH”.
• After that, you can verify:

  python --version

If Git is not installed:

• 🧩 Download and install from git-scm.com/downloads and install the latest version.
• Accept “Add Git to PATH” during setup.
• After that, you can verify:

  git --version

If Node is not installed:

• ⚡ Open a new terminal and run the following command to install nvm (version manager):

  nvm install --lts

• After that, you can verify:

  node --version
  # You can also check Node Package Manager's version
  npm --version

1️⃣ Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/carmenqr/MeteorMadness.git

cd MeteorMadness

2️⃣ Set up the Backend (Flask + Python)

Open a new terminal and move to the backend directory:

cd backend

Create

python -m venv env

Activate (Linux/Mac)

source env/bin/activate

Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

Configurate APIs

# This API_KEY is an example generated in: https://api.nasa.gov/
export NASA_API_KEY="BrayMFziYdhq2l5OaNMzEnpL46gaVEWEbVjDzOQe"

Run the Flask App

python app.py

3️⃣ Set up the Frontend (React + Vite)

Open a new terminal and move to the frontend directory:

cd frontend

Ensure Node version and istall dependencies

# Ensure correct Node version
nvm use

# Install dependencies
npm ci

Start the development server

npm run dev
-- You'll see VITE vX.Y.Z  ready

Now open your browser at http://127.0.0.1:5173/

✅ The app is now running locally!

Backend → http://127.0.0.1:5000/

Frontend → http://localhost:5173/

You can now explore:

🌌 3D orbits of asteroids

☄️ Interactive impact simulations

🌍 Mitigation scenarios

Made with ❤️ by Orbit-ers NASA Space Apps Challenge — Meteor Madness 2025 (AI-generated assistance used for documentation formatting)