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Cyber Planets: Building Virtual Worlds to Explore

Posted by timothy on from the real-artifice dept.

core plexus writes "Space.com has an interesting article on 'Cyber Planets': NASA plans to create hundreds of 'synthetic planets' that might represent real worlds orbiting faraway stars. Also tells about the Planetary Finder Mission, and an interview with one of the creators. Doesn't describe what software they're using, though."

2 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. And at home .. by McCarrum · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can we use this technology to build virtual environments for Earth? Want to walk on the ocean floor? Want to see the world from the top of Mt. Everest?

    Other planets are cool. So is ours.

    --
    Robert Anton Wilson :: Rest in Slack
  2. Yeow by CheshireCatCO · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The article is actually rather scant on details. But it is my guess that they are NOT going to be generating small-scale detailed models. So no views of planet surfaces. I'm guessing that they're going to use the planetary parameters as inputs and see how different organisms thrive or die off. The alternative is just much too complex and full of unknow parameters.
    Which means that this project is inherently very limited in its abilities. They'll have to work on averaged and estimated behaviors for the biota and they can't investigate detailed niches. Most disturbing from a biological perspective is that they are really only investigating "live as we know it", since we have no idea how other life forms might exist. So in a very real sense they aren't really learning a whole lot that is new.

    This is just my impression and interpretation, though. If they can do more detailed models, I'd be deeply, deeply impressed.