THE ENGINEERING BEHIND THE CARDS
Real mission principles.
A very playful universe.
Launch Window is an original solo tactical card adventure for the 2026 Space Mission Design Game challenge. Build a spacecraft from system cards, manage energy, survive three training encounters and return science to Earth.
A training metaphor
Systems do not literally fight eclipses, repair solar weather or shoot orbital debris. A system’s Resolve number represents abstract engineering capability. Hazard pressure, hull, armour, energy, rewards and data are game rules. All numbers and event patterns are invented teaching values.
The illustrations are original flat vector scenes, not satellite data, real equipment specifications or maps. Launch vehicles, orbital trajectories, physical dose, link budgets, thermal engineering and real operational timing are outside this prototype. The launch is abstracted into starting a mission with a small starter deck.
Design and Develop Science Missions
Julie Levri, NASA Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute, 26 March 2025. Read the NASA presentation ↗
From the source: a science mission connects launch, spacecraft, ground and user segments. Mission development links goals, requirements, design, verification and implementation.
In the game: the player chooses a science-return goal, builds a spacecraft from a limited hand of system cards, operates through mission hazards and sends data to Earth. Science rewards require a separate downlink; collecting data is not the end of the mission. The game makes connected system choices visible without claiming to model a flight-ready spacecraft.
CubeSat 101
NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative, Basic Concepts and Processes for First-Time CubeSat Developers, October 2017. Produced with California Polytechnic State University’s PolySat team and NASA contributors. Read the NASA guide ↗
From the source: small-satellite missions need feasible spacecraft design, ground-station development, testing, launch coordination and operations. Its ground-station discussion (printed page 22) explains the importance of commands and downlink.
In the game: solar power, stored charge, a science camera, protective hardware, repair capability and a Groundlink Relay compete for energy and four spacecraft slots. Solar Wings lose their bonus during the Eclipse encounter; the Pocket Reactor retains its bonus. Camera data needs a Downlink or Data Burst. These are designed trade-offs, not values copied from an engineering specification.
What the scores mean
Data packets and returned science are abstract progress counters. Flood Watch, Green Planet and Blue Frontier set different science targets and starting hardware. They are not analyses of actual flood, vegetation or ocean observations. No live or archived NASA observation dataset is used as gameplay data.
Defeating a hazard gives three data and a choice of new hardware or a tactic. That reward is a game mechanic, not a claim that hazards produce scientific observations. Energy points are an action budget, not watt-hours or a computed spacecraft power budget.
Credits & AI disclosure
Creator: Krzysztof Radomski. Team: Dammit Jim, I'm a vibe coded game not a mission simulator.
Freshly built in nasa-deck on 15 November 2026 following the creator’s card-game direction and explicit requests for tactical play and the art style of Outpost Luna’s landing cards. Original filled-vector illustrations use that visual reference; the game does not reuse Outpost Luna’s simulation or gameplay code.
OpenAI Codex assists with code, rules, tests, interface design, text, original vector illustrations and demo preparation. Illustrations include visible AI-assistance labels and descriptive SVG metadata. Short feedback tones are synthesized with AI-assisted Web Audio code. There is no music, recorded voice, child likeness or generated NASA branding.
No Hearthstone or Munchkin art, characters, card names, rules text, logos or board assets are used. The unused generated fantasy-art experiments are excluded from the published app.
Original code, writing and illustrations are under the MIT licence. NASA documents retain their original credits and source terms and are linked rather than republished. The game has no third-party runtime libraries, webfonts, analytics, account requirement or gameplay data transmission. Hosting may keep normal server logs.
Independent educational project; no NASA endorsement is claimed. Classroom outcomes and physical-device use have not been measured. This page documents resources and assumptions, not judging eligibility.