SAR (synthetic aperture radar) is a powerful tool for studying our planet and is used to investigate Earth processes—from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to ice sheet changes and forest cover.
Your challenge is to bring complex SAR data down to Earth by creating innovative artwork that highlights the unique perspective of SAR sensors. Create a digital art piece (image, video, 3D model, etc.) based on SAR imagery and related products—a work of SARt!
BACKGROUND
SAR (synthetic aperture radar) is a powerful tool for studying Earth. Radar can “see” through clouds and record measurements day or night. SAR has been used to study Earth processes—from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to ice sheet changes and forest cover. The upcoming NISAR (NASA-ISRO SAR) mission—a joint endeavor between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)—will collect data around the world and provide consistent SAR imagery of these Earth processes.
The NISAR mission will provide a multitude of new products! A common misconception with radar remote sensing is that the imagery is difficult for people to interpret. Creative artwork depicting SAR data can help highlight the information and detail that radar measurements contain, and help showcase the utility of this data for those new to SAR.
OBJECTIVES
Your challenge is to develop a publicly accessible work of SARt that portrays the radar imagery in a new, creative way. Think about how your project can focus on and highlight the detailed features included in the SAR data (e.g., volcano eruption, forest cover loss, etc.). For example, what colors can you use to best show vegetation loss? Can you show the progression of a volcanic eruption in a video?
Can your SARt-work highlight the utility of SAR data to new users? For example, given a SAR image of a flood, how could you creatively emphasize the flooded areas for a decision maker? Could you depict the image using different colors? Create a 3D model of the area? The possibilities are endless!
Any digital medium of art is acceptable as a submission: imagery, video, 3D model, music, (a picture of) a diorama, etc. Don’t forget to include a text description the data you used, how the art piece was generated, and how it represents the data.
To address this challenge, you will work with datasets similar to those that NISAR will provide to help preview what’s to come. The Resources section provides imagery from different geographic locations and applications to inspire you, but feel free to enrich your artwork by using other SAR data, as long as you cite its source so that it can be uniquely identified (e.g., provide image ID along with the mission name).
Submit your digital art piece in a publicly accessible form for a chance to become one of the final Space Apps Challenge global winners!
POTENTIAL CONSIDERATIONS
You may (but are not required to) consider the following:
The submissions will be judged by NASA experts based on creativity, innovation, and clarity.
Creativity: Does the SARt-work use a unique method to display the data?
Innovation: Has this representation of SAR been used before? How does it improve upon the original data?
Clarity: Does the SARt-work clearly depict the Earth process(es) being shown?
All NASA SAR data are publicly available, but you will need to register for an Earthdata Login Profile (see Resources) for access.
Beginner SAR users may start with the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) postcards, while more advanced users can explore the UAVSAR and NASA Earthdata search (see Resources).
For data and resources related to this challenge, refer to the Resources tab at the top of the page. More resources may be added before the hackathon begins.