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

Posted by samzenpus on from the almost-like-the-real-thing dept.

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.

24 comments

  1. Will it simulate drinking one's own urine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will this virtual reality simulation also depict one drinking one's own urine? As I understand it, water will be so scarce on Mars, at least at first, that the inhabitants will need to drink their own urine just to survive. Some speculate that the urine will be distilled down or otherwise cleaned some how, but as with all technology breakdowns are possible. If repairs can't be made to the water purification machinery in time, then the inhabitants of a colony on Mars may be forced to drink their own urine without any sort of treatment or processing of it. This isn't without precedent; it sometimes happens here on Earth in certain disaster situations.

    1. Re:Will it simulate drinking one's own urine? by Lodlaiden · · Score: 3, Informative

      If I got to go to Mars, I would drink my own pee if it came to that. No questions. I've seen much worse on Fear Factor and the like.

      --
      Suborbital [spaceflight] is the special olympics of spaceflight. - Rei
    2. Re:Will it simulate drinking one's own urine? by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 4, Informative

      Water recycling technology to do just this is being tested and used on the ISS now. That's the main mission for the ISS, to sort these logistical technologies out.

      If you drink your own piss untreated, you're going to die. You excrete urine for a reason; it's poison in high concentrations.

      --

      Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

      Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    3. Re:Will it simulate drinking one's own urine? by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

      You do it now on Earth.

  2. How is this going to play with the disadvantaged by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Minorities in America. American needs to realize that in 2014 Minorities outnumbered the majorities. Majorities need to start respecting and acknowledging the minorities. So how is the Mars colonization program going to work with minorities. If you send Minorities to Mars, you are being a racist by shipping all your problems off to another planet. If you ship your crackers to mars, you are being discriminatory because you do not allow your minorities to go to mars and hand out with the over privileged cracker oppressors.

    Truly it is a catch 22. The only solution is to kill all the minorities so they won't feel put out. Of coarse that would amount to genocide, and genocide is bad. You could kill all the crackers. This would not strictly be a bad thing, but then only the Chinese would be going to mars, and they would not take the niggers with them. However this would be OK. because racism is cool as long as it is not crackers that R being racist. So I guess the solution is to kill all the crackers. Thanks /. You have cleared some things up for myself.

  3. That's appropriate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Virtual reality missions" is about all these affirmative action hires are capable of completing.

  4. Human space flight is mainly about television by aberglas · · Score: -1, Troll

    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/

    1. Re:Human space flight is mainly about television by Kjella · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you don't see any value in sending people except as means to an end, then no they won't be cost effective. But I'd argue that putting a man on the moon had more non-scientific value than merely putting a science probe on the moon. It's a bit like the first guy to climb Mount Everest, that hundreds if not thousands of people do it is just to stroke their ego. But the first time was proving that we could. There's a lot of armchair quarterbacks saying that we could, because we put a man on the moon. But we know it's harder and we haven't actually tried. Proving that it is within the realm of technological progress to put a man on Mars is actually important.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:Human space flight is mainly about television by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 2

      How sad to be that cynical about one of the greatest achievements in the history of humanity.

      As for the practicality of humans in space... it really depends what your goals are. If it's to learn about the universe, human space flight is indeed rather silly, as it's vastly more difficult (and dangerous) to get a human into space than a machine. If your end-game is to get a permanent and self-sustainable human colony off world in the distance future, it's important that we as a species become comfortable living and working in space. Obviously, with your "real science" comment, you're interested in the former. Personally, I like to see us doing both.

      The "television" aspect of space flight is because it's pretty exciting to watch in general, and I suppose because we also like to see how our investments are doing, considering most of the big stuff is still publicly financed. Getting people interested and excited about space is also a good idea to ensure the public (and hence, Congress) remains willing to fund all this science, which still takes a shitload of money to do.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    3. Re:Human space flight is mainly about television by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh get over it. Indoor plumbing, electrification, germ theory, electronics, all these are far greater achievements.

    4. Re:Human space flight is mainly about television by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Funny how space exploration involves all of these and much more :)

    5. Re:Human space flight is mainly about television by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

      Proving that you can do something is engineering v&v, not science.

  5. Awesome! by Pluvius · · Score: 1

    Can't wait to "play" Marsbase Alpha!

    Rob

  6. Trustworthy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Building a simulator to make it look like they send a person to Mars without actually doing so might not be in the best interest for NASA. I expect the "you did the same thing with the moon" posts to arrive momentarily. I will come back tomorrow and read that NASA secretly invented virtual reality in the 60s as part of the Apollo program. Remind me to bring popcorn.

  7. For the underclass by nicoleb_x · · Score: 1

    The really rich guys get to go there in person but the hoi polloi get to stay here and dream about it. I'm glad I'm not rich.

  8. ok someone has to say it... by roc97007 · · Score: 2

    Get your ass to mars!

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  9. Unethical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It strikes me as unethical for NASA to spend money trying to convince us to give NASA more money.

    1. Re:Unethical by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

      This seems to be one of NASA's primary missions of the last 40 years.

  10. Mission statement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This mission isn't called Capricorn One by any chance, is it?

    Pogue (can't be bothered to log in)

  11. rofl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    please make a non VR version too. And also put up server that can host upwards to million participants. ty.

  12. Negative 60 degree average by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I still dont know why we are bent on sending people to mars. It's average temperature is -60 degrees F! If you really must know what that is like first hand, go to the North/South pole.

  13. Get your *** to Mars! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Restless construction workers wanted!

  14. Disney Already Did This by coolmoose25 · · Score: 1

    Mission to Mars - Epcot Center - You can go for less than $100. And when you come back, you can watch people vomit!

    --
    Brawndo: It's what plants crave!
  15. my mars simulator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Spray paint the inside of a garbage orange. Fasten the bag firmly around your neck, face and head and proceed to walk into a shallow portion northernmost ocean you can find. This should accurately portray all the excitement and adventure of life on a totally uninhabitable rock.