Guest: Many Pimenta; Topics: Many introduced us to his virtual reality simulation of the Moon, Virtual Moon (www.virtualmoon.space). During our discussion we talked about advances in virtual reality, his impressive team, demos now available & posted to our blog, plus his evolving plans for the continued Virtual Moon development.
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We welcomed Manny Pimenta back to the program to discuss his new virtual reality product, Virtual Moon (www.virtualmoon.space). We started our discussion with Manny providing us with a short history of his work in making lunar simulations starting several years back with his first iteration of the simulation, Lunar Explorer VR. This program was the subject of multiple earlier Space Show programs with Manny but the product failed leading eventually to his new simulation, Virtual Moon.
Virtual Moon is a complete lunar simulation using LRO data plus other high quality high resolution lunar imaging from additional sources as they become available. While you can see demos on the internet (see blog post by Manny), seeing the same in VR will be night and day in terms of the experience. To use Virtual Moon upon completion it will require an Oculus headset. At one point Manny talked details about the demo of the Apollo 11 landing and urged listeners to hold off seeing it until they could see it in VR as opposed to the website. If you can't wait, look at it on the website per the post on the blog.
To supplement your appreciation of Virtual Moon, I urge you visit their website and read about the project, read their vision statement and learn more about what they are doing. Their website is a terrific backgrounder plus you will know what to expect as Virtual Moon improves and evolves over time with new lunar information and imaging. In addition, toward the end of the program when Manny talked about his most impressive team behind the project, if you click on Team on the website and scroll down to read about each member, you will come away with a strong sense about the quality of the virtual reality design and experience for participants.
During our discussion, Manny got several listener emails. A few wanted more updates on his timeline for going real time with VR. One listener asked about being able to move around on the surface of the Moon, walk on the surface and then late in the show, a listener actually asked if couples could be intimate in VR on the Moon. Listen to Manny's response on that one. One point Manny stressed multiple times was that Virtual Moon was and would be based on physics. So whatever you see or do will be realistic and only plausible if the physics would allow or enable it to be done on the Moon. Don't miss his commentary about the physics. When Manny said people could fly on the Moon, I asked how the physics would allow that given no atmosphere for lift on the Moon. He said flying would be by rocket propulsion and then he said a few words about using ionic propulsion on Virtual Moon. Listener Paul wanted to know if one could go into a lava tube. Here, Manny talked about robotics and the likelihood of entering a lava tube through the dome. Our guest was also asked about Virtual Moon and the Artemis Project to land a human on the Moon. Much was said in response to this question so don't miss it. Just before we ended the program, Manny was asked about building a city or cities on the Moon. He said they were building out a virtual city, Selene. He had much to say on this virtual city, the plans for it over time and what Virtual Moon users could do on their end with Selene. Before ending, Manny gave out his email address on air for those who want to contact him. You can also sign up for news and reports on their progress through their website. Just click the Contact button.
Please post your comments/questions for Manny on our blog for this show. You can reach him through his website, the address he gave out over the air or through me at The Space Show.
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