By Dave DeFusco
A multidisciplinary team blending data analytics, programming and creative design led by Donald Haguma, a student in the M.S. in Data Analytics and Visualization, has won the OpenSpace Prize in the NASA SpaceApps Challenge at New York University for transforming NASA鈥檚 vast, number-heavy database of Near-Earth Objects into something people can actually see and understand.
Their 鈥淢eteor Madness鈥 project鈥攁 set of interactive visualizations that show how asteroids zip through Earth鈥檚 orbit鈥攊s now on display in the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. Each asteroid carries a hidden story buried in code and coordinates, and Haguma鈥檚 team found a way to bring each one to life.
鈥淲hen we learned that we won, it felt like a dream stretching into the stars,鈥 said Haguma. 鈥淏ut the real prize was the learning. I got to apply my data analytics skills from the Katz School on real NASA data.鈥
The mission of Haguma and his teammates was simple but profound: to help people see just how close some asteroids come to Earth and to show that with the right instruments, anyone can track them. The team created three interactive tools:
- An alert dashboard that shows which asteroids are getting too close for comfort, color-coded by risk level.
- A small asteroid game that turns real data into a learning experience for kids.
- A visualization inside OpenSpace, NASA鈥檚 open-source software used in museums and planetariums around the world.
鈥淭he alert dashboard uses NASA鈥檚 data on asteroid positions and trajectories,鈥 said Haguma. 鈥淏ut what it didn鈥檛 have was an easy way to tell people which ones were a threat, so we added labels, threat levels and color codes to make that clear at a glance.鈥
OpenSpace鈥攖he software now hosting the team鈥檚 visualization at the Hayden Planetarium鈥攚as a revelation in itself. 鈥淭hey gave us the tools and guidance during the hackathon,鈥 said Haguma. 鈥淚t鈥檚 complicated software, but it lets you fly through space, watch orbits in real time and see how close these objects get.鈥
For Haguma, who grew up in Uganda, the experience was deeply personal. 鈥淎s an international student, to be told that NASA is going to showcase your work,鈥 he said, 鈥渋t made me feel like I really belong here, that this is a place where dreams can come true. You dream up an idea, work hard and people recognize it.鈥
The team had never met before the hackathon, so their first hurdle was simply finding each other and building a working team. Then came the technical barriers鈥攃onnecting NASA鈥檚 live data streams to the OpenSpace platform in less than 16 hours.
鈥淚t was tough, but we helped each other,鈥 said Haguma. 鈥淲e all were very technical, but I brought the storytelling and visualization perspective I learned in my Visual Design and Storytelling course at the Katz School. Together, we made it work.鈥
For Haguma, the biggest lesson wasn鈥檛 about coding, it was about communication. 鈥淭his experience taught me that science isn鈥檛 locked in labs,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t lives in people, in late-night code, in coffee-fueled debates, in the thrill of turning data into understanding.鈥
Haguma and his teammates plan to expand their asteroid project, explore more NASA datasets and bring their visualizations to classrooms and museums. 鈥淚f other planetariums invite us, we鈥檇 love to show it,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e want to help people appreciate the scale of NASA鈥檚 work and of the universe itself.鈥
For now, their visualization spinning across the dome of the Hayden Planetarium is more than a technical triumph. It鈥檚 a symbol of curiosity, collaboration and the power of storytelling in science. While most asteroids are harmless wanderers, Haguma said tracking them gives us more than peace of mind.
鈥淚t teaches perspective,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he universe is vast, but somehow we鈥檝e built tools to watch over our tiny blue home.鈥
