UniverseMasat app for iPhone and iPad

Through an engaging visual display the aim of Universe Masat is to make visible and accessible the complex mechanisms of a rather simple looking object ( a cube) that was tasked to orbit around our planet. While the visual elements of this universe dynamically transform themselves, often displaying radical on-board changes of Masat (for example temperature of the on-board and outside solar panels) it also shows any changes to the atmosphere (e.g, a high battery temperature suggests a proximity to the sun rather being in the shadow of the Earth). Universe Masat has been ‘visually expanding’ from the minute Masat ( (which means ‘smudge’ in Hungarian) was launched in February until its unavoidable end when it enters the Earth’s atmosphere.

The work was introduced at Data is Beautiful Exhibition.

The project is a collaboration between Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and Newcastle University, Culture Lab.
The project is developed and produced by Brigitta Zics and Pengfei Zhang in Culture Lab, Newcastle University.
MASAT official web site: cubesat.bme.hu
More info: dm.ncl.ac.uk/blog/um/