🚀 AstroLens

Your AI-Powered Space Research Companion

AstroLens is a modern Flutter application that makes space biology research accessible to everyone. Browse curated research papers, get AI-powered summaries, and chat with an intelligent research assistant that helps you understand complex space science topics.

🌐 Live Demo

Web App: astrolens.pages.dev
API Documentation: api/README.md

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✨ Features

📱 Flutter Mobile & Web App

• Modern Space-Themed UI - Beautiful cosmic color scheme with dark mode
• Research Paper Browser - Explore curated space biology research papers
• Advanced Search - Search by title, summary, or keywords
• Paper Details - Comprehensive paper information with external links
• AI Research Assistant - Chat interface powered by Google's Generative AI
• Cross-Platform - Works on Android, iOS, Web, Windows, and macOS

🤖 AI-Powered Chat Assistant

• Conversational Interface - Natural language queries about space research
• Intelligent Responses - AI generates contextual answers based on research papers
• Paper Recommendations - Get direct links to relevant research papers
• Real-time Processing - Instant responses from deployed API

🛠️ FastAPI Backend

• Paper Summarization - AI-powered research paper analysis
• Chat Endpoint - Intelligent query processing with paper matching
• CORS Enabled - Ready for web application integration
• Auto-generated Documentation - Interactive API docs at /docs

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🏗️ Project Structure

astrolens/
├── lib/                          # Flutter application code
│   ├── main.dart                # App entry point and theme configuration
│   ├── models/                  # Data models
│   │   ├── research_paper.dart  # Research paper model
│   │   └── chat_message.dart    # Chat message model
│   ├── pages/                   # Application screens
│   │   ├── home_page.dart       # Main research papers browser
│   │   ├── paper_detail_page.dart # Individual paper details
│   │   └── chat_page.dart       # AI chat interface
│   └── services/               # Business logic
│       └── paper_service.dart   # Paper data management
├── api/                         # FastAPI backend
│   ├── main.py                 # API server with AI integration
│   ├── requirements.txt        # Python dependencies
│   └── README.md              # API documentation
├── assets/                     # App assets
│   ├── papers.json            # Research papers database
│   └── logo.png               # App logo
├── test/                      # Unit and widget tests
└── pubspec.yaml              # Flutter dependencies

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Flutter SDK 3.9.2 or higher
• Python 3.8+ (for API development)
• Google API Key (for AI features)

📱 Flutter App Setup

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/MAyman007/AstroLens.git
   cd astrolens

2. Install Flutter dependencies

   flutter pub get

3. Run the app

   # For development
   flutter run
   
   # For web
   flutter run -d chrome
   
   # For specific platform
   flutter run -d windows  # or macos, linux

🔧 API Setup (Optional)

The app uses the deployed API by default, but you can run it locally:

1. Navigate to API directory

   cd api

2. Install Python dependencies

   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Set environment variables

   export GOOGLE_API_KEY="your_google_api_key_here"
   export NCBI_API_KEY="your_ncbi_api_key_here"  # Optional

4. Run the API server

   python main.py
   # API available at http://localhost:9000

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🧠 AI Integration

Google Generative AI

• Model: Gemini 2.0 Flash Experimental
• Features: Conversational responses, paper summarization
• Prompting: Specialized prompts for space biology research

Chat Assistant Capabilities

• Paper Matching: Advanced similarity matching using difflib.SequenceMatcher
• Contextual Responses: AI generates relevant answers based on research content
• Link Integration: Provides direct access to full research papers
• Error Handling: Graceful fallbacks for API failures

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📊 Research Paper Database

The app includes 608 curated research papers covering a wide range of space biology topics, for example:

1. Animal Studies - Mouse experiments in space missions
2. Bone Health - Microgravity effects on bone density and cellular processes
3. Stem Cell Research - Tissue regeneration in space environments
4. Gene Expression - RNA analysis and genetic studies on the ISS
5. Space Biology - Various aspects of life sciences in microgravity

Each paper includes:

• Full title and summary
• Direct links to PMC articles
• Relevant keywords for searching
• AI-generated simplified explanations

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🔗 API Endpoints

Chat Assistant

GET /chat?message={query}

Response:

{
  "response": "AI-generated conversational response...",
  "link": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC..."
}

Paper Summarization

POST /summarize
GET /summarize-get?url={paper_url}

Health Check

GET /health

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📱 Supported Platforms

• ✅ Android - Native mobile experience
• ✅ Web - Responsive web application
• ✅ Windows - Desktop application
• ✅ Linux - Desktop application

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🧪 Testing

# Run all tests
flutter test

# Run specific test files
flutter test test/models/research_paper_test.dart
flutter test test/services/paper_service_test.dart

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🚀 Deployment

Releases

Web app is deployed at: astrolens.pages.dev.

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Platform-specific builds (mobile and desktop) are provided on the project's GitHub Releases page. Look for the latest release to download:

• Mobile
  • Android: APK / AAB packages
• Desktop
  • Windows: MSI / EXE build
  • Linux: AppImage / DEB / RPM (when provided)

Visit the Releases page for binaries and installation instructions: https://github.com/MAyman007/AstroLens/releases

🛠️ Dependencies

Flutter Dependencies

• google_fonts ^6.1.0 - Modern typography (Inter & Orbitron)
• url_launcher ^6.2.2 - External link handling
• http ^1.1.0 - API communication
• cupertino_icons ^1.0.8 - iOS-style icons

API Dependencies

• FastAPI - Modern Python web framework
• Google Generative AI - AI-powered responses
• BeautifulSoup - HTML parsing for paper content
• Uvicorn - ASGI server

👥 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

🙏 Acknowledgments

• NASA and PMC for providing access to space research papers
• Google for Generative AI capabilities
• Flutter team for the amazing cross-platform framework
• FastAPI for the modern Python web framework