NASA recently awarded some VR software an award:
A mixed-reality software that allows scientists and engineers to virtually walk on Mars recently received NASA’s 2018 Software of the Year Award.
OnSight uses imagery from NASA’s Curiosity rover to create an immersive 3D terrain model, allowing users to wander the actual dunes and valleys explored by the robot. The goal of the software, a collaboration between Microsoft and JPL’s Ops Lab, is to bring scientists closer to the experience of being in the field. Unlike geologists on Earth, who can get up close and personal with the terrain they study, Martian geologists have a harder time visualizing their environment through 2D imagery from Mars.
“Feeling like you’re standing on Mars really gives you a different sense of Mars than just looking at the pictures,” said Parker Abercrombie, OnSight team lead. “And I think it’s a really powerful way to bring people to these places that they physically can’t visit.”
Here’s a video:
As a science geek, it sounds real cool and all that. But has NASA setup any sort of metric to measure just how much more useful this approach to studying conditions on Mars vs the more traditional approaches? And if the advances in science attributable to this “mixed-reality” software are substantial, are they prepared to analyze the reasons behind the gain, that is, perform a qualitative analysis? Such an analysis may help sharpen the next step along this alternative planetary analysis path.
