SOL: Wish You Were Here

Sol is the world’s first interplanetary weather app and one of the solutions in the NASA International Space Apps Challenge.

The mobile and tablet app integrates weather data from the Curiosity rover on Mars with weather data from Earth. It’s driven by a custom built API - MAAS (Mars Atmospheric Aggregation System) - that takes data from Centro de Astrobiologia (CSIC-INTA) and the Planetary Data System puts it into a format that’s developer friendly and open-sourced. 

The result is a sleek, easy-to-use interface that allows you to navigate between current weather conditions at locations on Earth, as well as weather data from Mars. The app also includes social sharing features to tell friends on Twitter and Facebook about weather on Mars and on Earth.

Also, a second companion app has been created to augment the Sol experience. The augmented reality app, Sol 3D, offers two scenes for users to experience Mars conditions. The first scene allows users to control a 3D version of the Curiosity rover as it rolls across the planet through various weather events, including a dust storm. Users are also given facts about the planet and weather throughout the experience, as well as the opportunity to share screenshots through Twitter. The second scene is a 3D version of Mars that allows users to spin the planet around and read facts about the Martian world.