Navigating Through Space Debris: An Introduction to Our Menu-Driven Application
It has been a little more than 3 months since Re CAE’s official launch along with weekly product demonstration on our multi-fidelity solution for space debris prediction. Space debris re-entry itself is a complicated and time-consuming issue. With the aim of making space accessible, Re CAE is simplifying this complicated process of predicting space debris re-entry by providing a user-friendly and intuitive menu-driven application.
At its core, a menu-driven application employs a series of screens or “menus”, and users make a selection by clicking on buttons/lists to take them to the next step, until the desired outcome is achieved, making it an intuitive interface naturally and users do not have to worry of the complex algorithms behind the application.
Fig 1: Sneak peak of DR. FAST-C’s UI
Our interactive application is developed based on Dash Plotly [1] thanks to its low-code framework. Plotly’s Dash library provides declarative Python interface for developing full-stack web applications and includes several packages as building blocks. The two fundamental concepts behind dash are:
Layout, to build and design the interface;
Callbacks, for interactivity.
Interested reader can refer to [1] for a detailed documentation of Dash.
The application by Re CAE will be a multi-page app. Once a user is logged in, they will be directed to the home page that consists of different access to:
Type of projects, i.e. Orbital propagation, space debris re-entry or solar radiation;
Quick tools, i.e. Aerodynamic coefficient calculator and heat flux tool;
A link to the documentation page and Re CAE’s website.
etc.
Then depending on the desired project, each page has a unique layout, delicately designed to guide users to first enter the necessary input parameters, then check the test case with a detailed summary before running the simulation and visualizing results, see Fig 1.
The interface of course also includes features to save and load previous predictions making it easier to compare different scenarios. Additionally, it includes options to export results in different formats.
As the space industry continues to evolve, the rise of SaaS by Re CAE in space operations aims at enabling greater efficiency and accesibility to satellite manufacturers and space agencies, at the same time unlocking new capabilities to explore new frontiers.
Contact us today to learn more about our menu-driven SaaS and how it can benefit your space operations!
[1] Dash plotly
