In 2025, members of RenderPhoenix participated in the NASA Space Apps Challenge 2025, tackling the challenge of designing functional, sustainable lunar habitats. Our submission achieved Regional 2nd Runner-Up.
The Challenge: Lunar Settlement Simulation
Humanity’s return to the Moon requires solving complex engineering constraints: solar radiation exposure, extreme temperature swings between lunar day and night, regolith shielding, and closed-loop life support systems.
Our team designed a real-time 3D interactive simulator allowing users to construct modular subterranean and surface lunar habitats while balancing power, oxygen generation, and thermal regulation.
Key Technical Achievements
- Modular Node Architecture: Designed interconnected habitat modules (hydroponics, solar farm, life support, communications spire).
- Environmental Constraints: Integrated real lunar topographic and solar radiation data into the simulation environment.
- Performant 3D Web Rendering: Achieved fluid framerates across devices with low polygon count geometry and optimized shader pipelines.
// Conceptual radiation shielding calculation snippet
public float CalculateRadiationShielding(float regolithThicknessMeters, float solarFlareIntensity)
{
float attenuationFactor = Mathf.Exp(-0.15f * regolithThicknessMeters);
return Mathf.Clamp01(1.0f - (solarFlareIntensity * attenuationFactor));
}
Participating in the NASA Space Apps Challenge demonstrated how our world-building background translates into scientific visualization and interactive simulation.