Space Weather - Told by Hermes

The Three Solar Rascals isn’t just a story — it’s an experience. A first of its kind interactive digital children’s story for iPad, where science, storytelling, and play come together to let users touch and feel the wonders of space weather. Guided by HERMES, NASA’s space weather observer on the Gateway station orbiting the Moon, players meet three animated characters — Flare (solar flares), Radi (radiation storms), and CME (coronal mass ejections). Through intuitive motion interactions, users don’t just learn space weather they become part of it. Tilting the iPad launches flares toward Earth, shaking it triggers radiation storms, and blowing into the microphone sends plasma waves across space. Each action brings NASA’s heliophysics research to life, showing how the Sun’s activity affects GPS signals, astronauts, and even the auroras dancing in our skies. This project reimagines space weather education as an immersive story that makes complex science tangible, emotional, and memorable. Ultimately, The Three Solar Rascals reminds us that no matter where we are in the universe we all live under the same Sun, and its three friends. And just like the heliosphere that shields our solar system, this story connects imagination and science inspiring a new generation to see the universe not as distant space, but as our shared home.