ORBITUAL

NASA Space Apps Challenge 2025

Personalized Outdoor Risk Intelligence

Overview

ORBITUAL provides personalized, activity-specific outdoor risk scores by combining NASA Earth observation data with local weather forecasts and simple user profiles. The app helps people plan safer outdoor activities (camping, hiking, fishing, etc.) by showing heat, wind, rain, and comfort likelihoods plus actionable recommendations.

Features

• Personalized risk scores (heat, wind, rain, comfort) for selected activity and user profile.
• Three-day forecast summary with visual meters and recommendations.
• NASA POWER historical context (7-day averages) alongside OpenWeatherMap forecasts.
• Clean web UI built with React for easy demonstration and submission.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React.js, lucide-react (icons)
• HTTP client: axios
• Data: OpenWeatherMap (forecast + geocoding), NASA POWER API (historical daily point)
• Repo & hosting: GitHub

Setup & Run Locally

1. Clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/AVA-NTHIKA14/orbitual.git cd orbitual

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2. Install dependencies: npm install

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3. Add your OpenWeatherMap API key securely:

• Create a .env.local file in the project root (this file must NOT be committed).
• Add the following line (replace with your key):

  REACT_APP_OPENWEATHER_API_KEY=your_openweather_api_key_here
  

• Restart the dev server if it is running.

4. Ensure .env files are ignored (your .gitignore should contain): .env .env.local .env.development .env.production

5. Start the app: npm start Visit http://localhost:3000 to view ORBITUAL.

Security Note

• Do not commit API keys. If a key was pushed to a public repo, regenerate the key in the OpenWeatherMap dashboard and remove it from the Git history if necessary. For full secrecy, proxy requests through a backend server that holds the key server-side.

Project Context

This project was developed as a solution for the NASA Space Apps Challenge 2025, addressing the challenge of personalizing outdoor safety and environmental risk assessment using NASA satellite data combined with local weather forecasts.

NASA & Other Data Sources

• NASA POWER API (daily point): https://power.larc.nasa.gov/
• OpenWeatherMap APIs: https://openweathermap.org/api

Use of AI

N/A — (or document any AI tools used; e.g., “Used ChatGPT to draft README and example code snippets.”)

Credits & License

• Built for NASA Space Apps Challenge 2025.
• Icons: lucide-react