Curate, connect, and discover
Virtual Reality - Blog Posts
Concept art for I believe Reyukey! I’m pretty sure it’s concept art for reyukey because I did concept with my friend who drew X for me! The concept for (which was made in vr by my friend) Reyukeys clothes (specifically his shirt) because I had no idea what to do for him. All I had was a name and a few specific significant items. The idea was for a little bit of his skeleton showing and the rest covered! Thank you Mistercon for making this!
Sit Back and Space Out
Peer out on the depths of universe from the cupola windows,
Meander through the hallways of space,
Float in the home office of the star sailors.
Allow yourself to - space out - and imagine life through the eyes of NASA Astronauts on the International Space Station.
Check out other ways to enjoy #NASAatHome, HERE. We've curated videos, activities and fun in one out-of-this world place.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.
Employee Training – It’s Kind of a Big Deal
This is what it would look like if you were training to #BeAnAstronaut! Astronaut candidates must train for two years before they become official NASA astronauts. After graduation, you can look forward to more skill building when training for upcoming missions. Let’s dive into some of the courses you can expect once you’re selected for the job:
T-38 Jet Training
All astronaut candidates must learn to safely operate in a T-38 jet, either as a pilot or crew. Because this is the one area of their training that is not a simulation and involves decisions with life or death consequences, it teaches them to think quickly and clearly in dynamic situations.
Neutral Buoyancy Lab Training
The mission of the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) is to prepare astronauts for spacewalking outside the International Space Station! Astronauts are lowered into a large pool wearing full spacesuits. The pool is full of hardware that replicates what the space station is really like, so astronauts are able to practice tasks they can expect on a spacewalk such as going out the airlock, finding a good path to the work site and more! The NBL is beneficial because it gives astronauts the ability to be neutrally buoyant which simulates the effects of microgravity.
Geology Training
Geology training courses are specially tailored to the work astronauts will do from the International Space Station or on the next interplanetary mission! Astronauts learn the basic principles of geology, see rocks in their natural environment and handle samples from their class discussions. It’s less like memorizing the names of rocks and more like learning how geologists think and work.
Wilderness Survival Training
Before they end up in space, astronauts carry out a significant portion of their training in aircraft on Earth. It's unlikely, but possible, that one of those training planes could crash in a remote area and leave the humans on board to fend for themselves for a while. Knowing how to take care of their basic needs would be invaluable. Through the exercises, instructors hope to instill self-care and self-management skills, to develop teamwork skills, and to strengthen leadership abilities – all of which are valuable for working in the isolation of the wild or the isolation of space.
Extreme Environment Training
Astronauts participate in a variety of extreme environment training to prepare for the stresses of spaceflight. Pictured here, they are exploring the underground system of the Sa Grutta caves in Sardinia, Italy as a part of the European Astronaut Centre’s Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behavior and performance Skills (CAVES) expedition. Seasoned astronauts as well as rookies participate in the course and share experiences while learning how to improve leadership, teamwork, decision-making and problem-solving skills.
Virtual Reality Training
In our Virtual Reality Laboratory training facility at Johnson Space Center astronauts are able to immerse themselves in virtual reality to complete mission tasks and robotic operations before launching to space. The facility provides real time graphics and motion simulators integrated with a tendon-driven robotic device to provide the kinesthetic sensation of the mass and inertia characteristics of any large object (<500lb) being handled.
Want more? We’ve compiled all you need to know about what it takes to #BeAnAstronaut HERE.
Apply now, HERE!
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
Bringing The Space Station Perspective to Earth in VR!
Only a few humans ever get to experience the awe-inspiring vantage point provided by the space station, but a new virtual reality (VR) experience, Space Explorers: The ISS Experience (ISS Experience), attempts to bring this perspective back to Earth for the rest of us.
Partnering with the ISS National Lab and Time, a team from Felix and Paul Studios launched a high quality 360 degree camera to space to help tell the story of science and life aboard the orbiting laboratory.
The project, currently in the process of being filmed by the station astronauts themselves, serves as an outreach project as well a technology demonstration, testing the limits of filming in the harsh environment of space.
The camera flew to the station on 16th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission in December 2018 along with a number of other scientific experiments.
Since then, the team has recorded many moments, including the SPHERES robots flying around the station (see below) , the growing and harvesting of vegetables, jam session among the astronauts, crew meals and the arrival of new astronauts.
So far, the footage coming back seems to be achieving the goal of immersing audiences in science and life aboard the space station. NASA astronaut Sunita Williams got the chance to watch some of the initial footage and says it was like I was back on the station.
While most of the filming has been completed, the biggest technical challenge is yet to come: capturing a spacewalk in virtual reality. The team expects to launch a new camera for spacewalk filming and begin production of spacewalk filming in 2020.
Learn more about ISS Experience here.
For daily updates, follow @ISS_Research on Twitter, Space Station Research and Technology News or our Facebook. Follow the ISS National Lab for information on its sponsored investigations. For opportunities to see the space station pass over your town, check out Spot the Station.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.
From Discovering the Secrets of the Universe to In-Space Servicing, We’ve Got The Tools for the Job
If you need to fix something on Earth, you could go to a store, buy the tools you need, and get started. In space, it’s not that easy.
Aside from the obvious challenges associated with space (like it being cold and there being no gravity), developing the right tools requires a great deal of creativity because every task is different, especially when the tools need to be designed from scratch. From the time an engineer dreams up the right tools to the time they are used in space, it can be quite a process.
On Nov. 15, astronauts Luca Parmitano and Drew Morgan began a series of spacewalks to repair an instrument called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-2) on the exterior of the International Space Station. The first of four spacewalk focused on using specialized tools to remove shields and covers, to gain access to the heart of AMS to perform the repairs, and install a new cooling system.
The debris shield that covered Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer floats away toward Earth as astronaut Drew Morgan successfully releases it.
Once repaired, AMS will continue to help us understand more about the formation of the universe and search for evidence of dark matter and antimatter.
These spacewalks, or extravehicular activities (EVAs), are the most complex of their kind since the servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope. AMS is particularly challenging to repair not only because of the instrument’s complexity and sensitivity, but also because it was never designed to be fixed. Because of this design, it does not have the kinds of interfaces that make spacewalks easier, or the ability to be operated on with traditional multi-purpose tools. These operations are so complex, their design and planning has taken four years. Let’s take a look at how we got ready to repair AMS.
Thinking Outside of the (Tool) Box
When designing the tools, our engineers need to keep in mind various complications that would not come into play when fixing something on Earth. For example, if you put a screw down while you’re on Earth, gravity will keep it there — in space, you have to consistently make sure each part is secure or it will float away. You also have to add a pressurized space suit with limited dexterity to the equation, which further complicates the tool design.
In addition to regular space complications, the AMS instrument itself presents many challenges — with over 300,000 data channels, it was considered too complex to service and therefore was not designed to one day be repaired or updated if needed. Additionally, astronauts have never before cut and reconnected micro-fluid lines (4 millimeters wide, less than the width of the average pencil) during a spacewalk, which is necessary to repair AMS, so our engineers had to develop the tools for this big first.
With all of this necessary out-of-the-box thinking, who better to go to for help than the teams that worked on the most well-known repair missions — the Hubble servicing missions and the space station tool teams? Building on the legacy of these missions, some of our same engineers that developed tools for the Hubble servicing missions and space station maintenance got to work designing the necessary tools for the AMS repair, some reworked from Hubble, and some from scratch. In total, the teams from Goddard Space Flight Center’s Satellite Servicing Projects Division, Johnson Space Center, and AMS Project Office developed 21 tools for the mission.
Designing and Building
Like many great inventions, it all starts with a sketch. Engineers figure out what steps need to be taken to accomplish the task, and imagine the necessary tools to get the job done.
From there, engineers develop a computer-aided design (CAD) model, and get to building a prototype. Tools will then undergo multiple iterations and testing with the AMS repair team and astronauts to get the design just right, until eventually, they are finalized, ready to undergo vibration and thermal vacuum testing to make sure they can withstand the harsh conditions of launch and use in the space environment.
Hex Head Capture Tool Progression:
Hex Head Capture Tool Used in Space:
Practice Makes Perfect
One of the reasons the AMS spacewalks have been four years in the making is because the complexity of the repairs required the astronauts to take extra time to practice. Over many months, astronauts tasked with performing the spacewalks practiced the AMS repair procedures in numerous ways to make sure they were ready for action. They practiced in:
Virtual reality simulations:
The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory:
The Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS):
Astronauts use this testing to develop and practice procedures in space-like conditions, but also to figure out what works and doesn’t work, and what changes need to be made. A great example is a part of the repair that involves cutting and reconnecting fluid lines. When astronauts practiced cutting the fluid lines during testing here on Earth, they found it was difficult to identify which was the right one to cut based on sight alone.
The tubes on the AMS essentially look the same.
After discussing the concern with the team monitoring the EVAs, the engineers once again got to work to fix the problem.
And thus, the Tube Cutting Guide tool was born! Necessity is the mother of invention and the team could not have anticipated the astronauts would need such a tool until they actually began practicing. The Tube Cutting Guide provides alignment guides, fiducials and visual access to enable astronauts to differentiate between the tubes. After each of eight tubes is cut, a newly designed protective numbered cap is installed to cover the sharp tubing.
Off to Space
With the tools and repair procedures tested and ready to go, they launched to the International Space Station earlier this year. Now they’re in the middle of the main event -- Luca and Drew completed the first spacewalk last Friday, taking things apart to access the interior of the AMS instrument. Currently, there are three other spacewalks scheduled over the course of a month. The next spacewalk will happen on Nov. 22 and will put the Tube Cutting Guide to use when astronauts reconnect the tubes to a new cooling system.
With the ingenuity of our tool designers and engineers, and our astronauts' vigorous practice, AMS will be in good hands.
Check out the full video for the first spacewalk. Below you can check out each of the tools above in action in space!
Debris Shield Worksite: 2:29:16 – Debris Shield Handling Aid 2:35:25 – Hex Head Capture Tool (first) 2:53:31 – #10 Allen Bit 2:54:59 – Capture Cages 3:16:35 – #10 Allen Bit (diagonal side) 3:20:58 – Socket Head Capture Tool 3:33:35 – Hex Head Capture Tool (last) 3:39:35 – Fastener Capture Block 3:40:55 – Debris Shield removal 3:46:46 – Debris Shield jettison
Handrail Installations: 4:00:53 – Diagonal Beam Handrail Install 4:26:09 – Nadir Vacuum Case Handrail Install 4:33:50 – Zenith Vacuum Case Handrail InstallVertical Support Beam (VSB)
Vertical Support Beam (VSB) Worksite: 5:04:21 – Zip Tie Cutter 5:15:27 – VSB Cover Handling Aid 5:18:05 – #10 Allen Bit 5:24:34 – Socket Head Capture Tool 5:41:54 – VSB Cover breaking 5:45:22 – VSB Cover jettison 5:58:20 – Top Spacer Tool & M4 Allen Bit 6:08:25 – Top Spacer removal 7:42:05 - Astronaut shoutout to the tools team
top 5 dystopian AI robots movies ~scenarios that are not far from being reality:
Blade Runner (1982-)
Terminator (1984,1991,2003,2009,2015,2019)
The Matrix (1999,2003,2021)
Westworld (2016-2022)
Ex Machina 2014 ~ Special Mentions: Minority Report 2002 AEON FLUX 2005 Total Recall(1990, 2012) Elysium 2013 I, Robot 2004 Upgrade 2018 Tau 2018 The Creator 2023 M3gan 2022 Transcendence 2014
Another special mention for Eagle Eye 2008 a movie where AI takes over and manipulates digital data, it's funny to think George Orwell warned about this in his book-because he imagined the future and knew that nothing good will come out of it And suddenly all governments in every country are so stressed with implementing digital ID and digital money, why? why you are in such a hurry to put us all in the SkyNet network? so that AI can clone , replace, modify or even delete us from existence? This is not evolution, this is human extinction . There is not much time left, I'm analyzing ,just like few others who think about it , the worst possible scenarios . There is no way for humans to evolve as species like this only trough bioengineering and mixing. Some people think that if they implant electronic parts in their body they are evolving like half human -half cyborg but NO that is replacement(beside the fact that they become a hackable object) not evolution , you have a bionic leg, a bionic heart or a bionic liver and on top of that have a microchip in hand that helps connecting to the bank account -it's not evolution you're being replaced into a bot and when your organic brain dies the bot will eventually keep recordings of your memory or delete or modify them because it's autonomous it's like a virus taking over the host.
some say this satirically: "if you don't like this MATRIX wake up , get out and move into another one"- they were talking about these virtual worlds created using computer simulated environments. Now this is the biggest issue of this civilization living today. You're all doomed and now you question if you live inside a simulation -if this universe is a simulation. But instead of going beyond to understand the problem, this civilization goes down below digging deep underground without noticing that behind them the tunnel they dug is crumbling on them.
Looking through different glasses VR check out nordgrenexperience.com
“A WHOLE NEW WOOOOOOORLD, A DAZZLING PLACE I NEVER KNEEEEEEW…”
Need to update your VR glasses? Checkout https://bit.ly/325FmpY
Exploring virtual reality at NASA’s Ames Research Center, 1989.
Virtual Reality from nordgrenexperience.com
“We’re going to talk in terms of before and after. The virus will change a lot of things for art". This is a statement from Frances Morris, director of Tate Modern.
The Guardian poses a fundamental question.
Given the amount of requests we are receiving after the pandemic, we truly believe that the #Art World has the power to adapt to any type of change, especially when it meets halfway with the World of #Technology.
Service provided:
Consultancy and project management
Experience and exhibition design
3D creation
Architectural design
Virtual Reality development
iOS development
DSL Collecction VR Museum
Dominique and Sylvain Levy are the founders of the DSL Collection, one of the rare Chinese contemporary art collections in France. Since 2005, the aim of Levy’s strong team has been to assemble Chinese artworks to have a massive digital presence in the Art World. The reason why they decided to become one of the biggest collectors in this sector of the Art World is to go with the flow of change brought by China which has become a superpower in recent years. This evolution is changing the face of the world as technology is modifying the way humans interact with the real world.
The Ikonospace team created for the Dominique and Sylvain Levy’s private art collection a virtual museum from scratch. The challenge for our team was to build a space large enough to contain pieces from their collection that could hardly be housed inside a physical museum. For example, the 15x6m masterpiece of Jia Aili, an artist from Dandong who combines modern elements with a traditional figurative style. His work is mostly focused on the dramatic technological transformation China has been going through in the last fifty years.
The philosophy of the DSL collection fits perfectly with Ikonospace's mission to tell, through the use of virtual reality and technology, how it can be possible to transport the future into the Art World.
The DSL Collection Virtual Reality Museum was born in 2016 and was the first of its kind. For the first time, our team managed to create a museum space around the artworks rather than fitting them into an existing space.
Unveiled at the FIAC Art Fair in Paris, the experience invited users to discover 30 artworks and went on to receive the “Digital Collection of the Year” award on Larry’s list, one of the biggest leading art market knowledge company providing data, research and access to contemporary art collectors.
In 2016, this innovative and truly eye-opening virtual reality museum, allowed visitors to access the first online private museum in the world. Thanks also to this French couple, Ikonospace was able to start spreading its vision of the future of technology as a tool to reach new audiences all over the world and facilitate different types of novel experiences through the use of the VR.
To build this museum we provided the following services:
Consultancy and project management
Experience design
3D creation
Virtual Reality development
Curation
Norman Seef - Virtual Reality Museum
All the work of Norman Seeff has been focused on the exploration of human creativity. Photographer and filmmaker, Norman Seeff has immortalized in his photos artists of the caliber of Tina Turner, Patty Smith, Ray Charles and many others.
The most fascinating aspect of his works is his ability to clearly show all the dynamics hidden behind the creative process. Looking at the world from the back of his camera, Norman Seeff used to quiz the artists who posed for him about their lives or their successes in order to create a mini confessional atmosphere. His purpose was to make these artists tell him about the exact moment in which they had found inspiration for their art. At that precise moment, Norman was able to capture, through his photos, their own soul.
Inspired by the importance that Norman Seeff gives to the creative process, the Ikonospace team decided to build this museum from scratch.
Walking through this three-dimensional space, it is possible to admire how the geometry of the structure blends perfectly with the light that filters through the walls.
The Norman Seeff Virtual Reality Museum was one of the first showcases of large Virtual Reality Museum for Ikonospace. It was first showcased at CES Las Vegas in 2018, the largest trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association. This event typically hosts presentations of new products and technologies in the consumer electronics industry.
The Ikonospace team wanted to specifically create a type of architecture that is very difficult to build in reality. Inside the museum, for example, there is a room that acts like an elevator, allowing visitors to move around the different floors of the building. A river also flows across the structure to balance with the dense rocks walls.
With the Norman Seeff Virtual Reality Museum, our team explores new ways to interact with artworks. By approaching each photograph and clicking on it, the visitor is literally catapulted into the photo. A sort of time travel to return to the exact moment in which that photograph was taken. The visitor, through extra videos and photos, can relive the moment when the artist was telling his story.
About the artists you can admire inside this museum, Norman Seeff said: "Those people have what I call 'far vision.' They look out to the future. The dreamer always has a vision of the possibilities in the future”. This has been the heart of the inspiration of Ikonospace team: to create an experience to inspire people to have a look into the future, showing them the possibilities that come out when virtual reality meets art.
Ikonospace was founded in 2015 to be a link between Art and Technology.
Our mission is to strengthen and enhance the communication between these two adjoining worlds.
We work hands in hands with Artists, Collectors, Galleries and Art Institutions to help them make the best use of the latest 3D technologies.
We believe digitization not only helps to preserve and share our cultural heritage but also helps to reduce the carbon footprint of the industry.
This is the reason why, since the beginning, the story of Ikonospace travels the unpaved road of 3D, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.
The road was in sight of everybody but not everyone could see it.
We can see it today.
And we are here to show that there is more than meets the eyes.
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLD
So have you heard that thing about andromeda colliding with the milky way? It would obviously happen a LONG time from now, but I'm wondering if our solar system will even last long enough to see it. Like will our sun last long enough to get us there?
It will happen quite a long time from now (about four billion years), but yes, our sun will still be there. It won’t be a red giant yet, but it will be considerably warmer and brighter than it is now, as it will be nearing the end of its life as a main sequence star.
For a while beforehand, Andromeda will grow larger than larger. At some point, the Milky Way and Andromeda will get so close that they will begin to gravitationally distort each other. The night sky will look like this (albeit somewhat dimmer to our eyes):
However, by this time, the sun will be about 40% more luminous. The habitable zone, a ring around the Sun where liquid water (and life as we know it) can exist, will have moved further out into the solar system. Earth will be too warm for liquid water. The oceans will have evaporated, and life on Earth will fade away into memory. Of course, humans are getting more and more advanced all the time. Considering how far we’ve come in just a hundred years, if we don’t manage to kill ourselves first (which is a big if), and if the current trends in the rate of advancement in technology hold, it’s virtually certain that our technology will be so advanced that preserving life on Earth will be trivial.
(via Jaguar Boffin Cave by Jae Salavarrieta)
VRCHAT ARTWORK!!!
Metal Exterior Example of a large trendy two-story metal exterior home design with a metal roof and a black roof
Dragon & Tech Development: NASA Co-Op #3 Week 5 & 6
Six weeks into my spring at NASA I can finally summarize my role. I am basically a project manager. I am working with a wonderful team of developers and flight controllers to green light an app astronauts may use on the International Space Station to facilitate stowage operations. The app runs on a device that would make stowage operations more hands free and enable monitoring from Earth. Stowage operations include unloading visiting vehicles such as the SpaceX Dragon and reloading Japanese HTV vehicles to burn up in the atmosphere. To get app approval I need to set up user tests in space station node mock-ups with participants familiar with space station procedures such as mission control flight controllers and astronauts. I observe user testing for other stowage tools and instruct team members to integrate those lessons learned into the app. I make sure the right talents are involved in the development including folks who work in human factors and those who train astronauts. So far this has been my favorite work tour responsibility wise. Even as a Co-Op my efforts directly correlate with the success of the app’s progress.
Picture above is from NASA’s exhibits in downtown Houston during Super Bowl week. I am wearing a VR headset that gave a 360 degree view of how rocket engines are constructed. A rocket booster of the same module of those on the Space Launch System was perched in the middle of Houston’s Discovery Green. Standing in the middle of the exhibits you could spin around in the circle and see sky scrapers draped in Super Bowl LI banners.
WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
SpaceX Dragon, a cargo resupply ship is scheduled to launch Sat Feb 18 9:01amCT, watch here!
Science experiments arriving to Space Station on Dragon to be conducted bu astronauts!
Behind the scenes of the SpaceX Dragon launch and Space Food!
List of launches scheduled at Kennedy Space Center in Florida's Cape Canaveral.
Five minute video of this week's NASA accomplishments.
Real time updates on NASA's missions.
Apply to be a NASA Intern!
Ready for virtual reality? Grab your Google Cardboard headset, download the Vrse app for iOS or Android, download individual videos, and then insert the phone into the viewer to experience them.
VR + DIY = Google Cardboard.
The beauty. pragmatism and efficacy of simulators
The picture above is from a tweet sent by NASA astronaut Terry W. Virts shows how an entire laptop can be used as a Virtual Reality headset display onboard the ISS.
“SAFER” virtual reality simulator- the jet pack we can use to get back to ISS if we floated away during a spacewalk.
Link
The danger of virtual sex
Опасность виртуального секса.
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn, or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.