NASA Is Creating a Virtual Reality Mission To Mars (roadtovr.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The Mars 2030 Experience' is part of NASA's ongoing efforts to build public support in a real manned mission to the Red Planet. Partnering with FUSION to produce the experience, NASA wants the mission to simulate life as one of the first astronauts on Mars. Incorporating research directly from NASA and MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics PhD candidate Sydney Do, the VR experience will take users on an 'extravehicular activity' and put them in the Z-2 spacesuit, a real prototype currently in development at NASA. There are also plans to add multiplayer functionality to the game and launch with support for the Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard in 2016.

Comments

Human space flight is mainly about television

[aberglas]

This is a good move. NASA wastes billions on the space station, and now human Mars nonsense, and the only point is to produce television shows that make people feel good. With modern technology they can just produce fake pictures that will work about as well and then hopefully spend the real money on real science. I want to know about Europa. And have the Webb launched, and then replaced if the launch fails. Real science.

There is a good reason why nobody has gone back to the moon in 4 decades. Humans are obsolete technology for space travel. Have been for decades. As the machines become ever more intelligent the idea will seem more and more ludicrous.

A more interesting question, is will humans remain current technology here on earth over the next century or two.

http://www.computersthink.com/