Guest: James Burk; Topic: Mars virtual reaality, the Mars Society project MarsVR platform being developed via an Indigogo crowdfunding project, virtual reality, schools and museum distribution and more.
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We welcomed back to the show James Burk to discuss the new Mars Society project, MarsVR which is a crowdfunded project to present Mars as realistically as possible using advanced virtual reality to the public, including school age children and older, plus the general population. Their goal is to get the MarsVR platform in schools, museum and everywhere possible to eduate and interest the broader population in mars. Find out more about the project at https://marsvr.com. To see their Indigogo project and to participate, visit https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/marsvr-virtual-reality-for-mars-exploration--3#/sre.
During our hour long discussion, James described virtual reality, talked about the various VR headsets, why VR is not yet doable on a smartphone, side effects that some people have with VR and how it is being used for their Mars project. In addition, he told us about his visit to JPL where they use VR for their mission work and planning plus their Mars rovers. He talked extensively about the Hololens VR used by JPL and the opportunity he had to experience it. Don't miss what he said about JPL, VR, and Mars mission applications.
James talked about analogs which have helped them in making their VR platform. He especially referenced The Mars Society Mars Desert Research Station in Utah (MDRS). In fact, visiting MDRS is a reward item or two for their crowd funing program per a specific investment amount. Our guest had much to say about what they have learned from MDRS which is helping them develop their MarsVR platform.
Additional topics included their school distribution plan and the appropriate age level for MarsVR. Another topic addressed other Mars virtual reality products which might be seen as competition to their MarsVR platform. Listener Kim called to ask how their platform was going to deal with sound including music. Kim and James had a terrific discussion on this issue, talking about hearing the Martian wind for the first time givne the microphone on the new Perseverance rover now on Mars.
As we were nearing the close of our hour long program, Shelly wanted to know about the platform altspaceVR. James told us about it and I mentioned that a listener had requested Space Show programming be presented in altspaceVr. James and I discussed it. Check out altspaceVR at https://altvr.com and let us know what you think regarding some Space Show programming using this platform. As I said on air, I was not sure it was a good outlet for a talk radio program. Post your comments about this on our blog for this show.
Before ending, James was asked about the upcoming Mars Society Conference for 2021, wanting to know if it would follow the same model implemented by James for the 2020 conference. Our guest had a lot to say about the success of the Mars Society 2020 conference plus what the preliminary plans were for 2021. James said that for now, they were considering a hybrid conference and they still liked their previous venu at USC in Los Angeles. As we were about to close, James got a question from Jack asking if we were seeing the true color of Mars in the photos on the various NASA websites. James had much to say about the "true" color of Mars, the photos, how they get manipulated for scientific and other reasons. Don't miss this discussion as he did a great job in explaining the color we see in the Mars images.
Please post your comments/questions on the blog for this page. You can reach James Burk through.
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