About the Customer
NASA’s Spritacular initiative is a public-participation science project led by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The program aims to advance the study of sprites and Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), rare, high-altitude flashes triggered by electrical activity above storm clouds.
The mission is to bridge the gap between scientific research and public engagement by creating a centralized, crowdsourced repository of real-world sprite photographs. As explained by Dr. Burcu Kosar, the project’s lead investigator and a space physicist at NASA, “There are many remarkable images of sprites online, but they’re not reaching the scientific community. Spritacular is designed to change that.”
By inviting global contributors to upload verified images, NASA is building a collaborative platform that enhances data collection and supports advanced atmospheric research.
Project Overview
Spritacular is a citizen science initiative developed by NASA to deepen the scientific understanding of sprites and Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) through public collaboration. These high-altitude light phenomena, often occurring above thunderstorms, are notoriously difficult to capture and study in real time.
Led by Dr. Burcu Kosar from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the project aims to build the first-ever crowdsourced, centralized catalog of sprites and TLEs. By enabling individuals to contribute verified photographic evidence, Spritacular creates a dynamic link between public observation and atmospheric research, ultimately enriching scientific discovery with real-world data.
Purpose
The primary goal of Spritacular is to build a collaborative bridge between the global community of TLE observers and the scientific research ecosystem. By encouraging individuals to document sprites and related phenomena, NASA aims to tap into a new layer of citizen-driven data collection.
As the Spritacular platform grows, the initiative will roll out advanced tools that allow contributors to automatically compare their submissions against official lightning and storm datasets. This empowers participants not just to contribute data, but to engage more deeply in the scientific process, transforming passive observation into active collaboration.
Business Challenge
To ensure Spritacular could support global participation and deliver a seamless user experience, NASA faced several technical and functional challenges that required scalable, cloud-native solutions. The platform needed to balance real-time performance, usability, and infrastructure flexibility while keeping scientific data integrity intact.
The challenges were as follows:
- Image Compression & Rendering
Delivering high-quality image uploads from users worldwide required a system that could efficiently compress and render media without compromising detail or performance.
- Live Notification System
The project needed a real-time push notification system to update users on submission statuses, scientific insights, and community updates.
- Cross-Account AWS Migration
All assets and resources had to be securely migrated from one AWS account to another, ensuring zero downtime, data preservation, and continued system stability.
- User-Friendly Content Management
To empower contributors and researchers to share updates, guides, and findings, the platform needed a robust rich text editor for publishing blogs and tutorials.
Our Solution
The mission is to bridge the gap between scientific research and public engagement by creating a centralized, crowdsourced repository of real-world sprite photographs. As explained by Dr. Burcu Kosar, the project’s lead investigator and a space physicist at NASA, “There are many remarkable images of sprites online, but they’re not reaching the scientific community. Spritacular is designed to change that.”
To address the performance, interactivity, and content needs of the Spritacular platform, our team implemented scalable, user-focused solutions that support both scientific goals and public engagement.
Here are some of its key functionalities:
- Optimized Image Rendering
We implemented a dual-image strategy, generating lightweight thumbnails for fast preview loading and storing high-resolution versions for detailed viewing. This significantly improved global loading times while maintaining scientific image quality.
- Real-Time Notifications with Firebase
To deliver live updates, we integrated the django-fcm package on the backend and leveraged Firebase service workers on the frontend. This enabled push notifications to be displayed even when users weren’t actively browsing, enhancing engagement and retention.
- Rich Text Blogging Experience
For content creation, we integrated CKEditor within the React-based web app. This allowed users and contributors to write and format blogs, tutorials, and research insights with advanced features like image embedding, code blocks, and structured formatting.
These tailored solutions created a seamless, interactive platform capable of supporting both contributors and researchers at scale.
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Key Challenges
One of the core technical hurdles involved optimizing database performance. Several APIs required data aggregation from multiple tables, leading to increased round-trip times and potential latency for end users. Structuring queries efficiently while maintaining data integrity was critical.
Another key challenge was implementing global image delivery using AWS CloudFront. To ensure fast load times across regions, images needed to be compressed and served from the nearest edge location, balancing speed with fidelity.
Finally, the project required a seamless migration of application resources from one AWS account to another, a task that demanded careful handling of services, permissions, and dependencies to prevent any disruption in the live environment.
Project Name
Spritacular
Category
Python Development
Technology Stack
- Backend: Python (Flask)
- Database: PostgreSQL
- Monitoring & Dashboards: Kibana, Grafana
- Cloud Infrastructure: AWS EC2
- CI/CD & Code Management: Bitbucket, GitLab, AWS CodePipeline
- Project Management: Jira
- Data Visualization: Redash
- Messaging & Alerts: Twilio, Textlocal
Industry
Space Science & Citizen Research
