NASA Needs Your Help Building a VR Mars Simulator (vrscout.com) 28
Iamthecheese writes: The Mars XR Operations Support System is a virtual environment making use of [Epic Games'] Unreal Engine 5. [NASA is seeking to gather contributions to "replicate the harsh conditions of Mars in order to better train the next generation of astronauts," reports VRScout.] There is a $70,000 prize to be split between 20 contestants. It will be awarded to those with the best assets and scenarios.
There are five (5) different categories to participate in, with particular scenarios to explore in each category:
-Set Up Camp
-Scientific Research
-Maintenance
-Exploration
-Blow Our Minds
I'm guessing little green men will feature heavily in submissions. In any case, it's not just a chance to earn money, but prove oneself to potential employers. Prize and contest information here.
There are five (5) different categories to participate in, with particular scenarios to explore in each category:
-Set Up Camp
-Scientific Research
-Maintenance
-Exploration
-Blow Our Minds
I'm guessing little green men will feature heavily in submissions. In any case, it's not just a chance to earn money, but prove oneself to potential employers. Prize and contest information here.
You have died of dysentery (Score:2)
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It might help with immersion, but no amount of VR is going to fully and properly prepare "boots on the ground" (as if NASA will EVER do that...) for the lowered gravity, the radical temperature differences between sun and shade, the near dead-quiet even in a sandstorm, or the bloody persistence of the dust contamination.
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No, but it's better than having no exposure before going there.
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You make it sound like astronauts will go outside without an environmental suit on. The suit will take care of temperatures, and sounds inside the suit or base will be like on Earth while they'd have been unlikely to hear anything from outside of it anyway (not that it's hard to simulate quiet, all you need are earplugs). Dust decontamination procedures can certainly be simulated on Earth too, and there are plenty of substances that can simulate annoyance with it too.
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No. I mean inside an environment suit.
The temperature difference between sun and shade is not insubstantial. the suit will require thermal regulation that is pretty damned amazeballs. Between -80F and -200F. Learning to stay out of the shade, so your suit's power pack does not go flat in minutes, instead of hours, is rather important.
When traversing outside the habitat inside the environment suit, not hearing wind will be unsettling. The atmosphere is so rarified, that it does not conduct sound well. More
Work for free, work for exposure... yay (Score:5, Insightful)
So we're supposed to develop a game for free, with original art and code, and hope to be awarded a grand prize of $3.500?
And by the act of entering the context, we grant a right of perpetual use of our work, for free, to NASA, as per the legal agreement [herox.com], even if we do not win?
Seriously, I didn't expect NASA to fall that low.
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Rules for contests like this have been this way for as long as I have been alive.
You can't hold this type of contest without holding perpetual license because otherwise how do you return it? How do you prove nothing in the future ever was inspired or copied from the losing submissions? You have to do it this way otherwise you open yourself to a whole host of legal quandries. I am not even a lawyer and I can logically follow that. Similar to how television shows don't even open any scripts or ideas you se
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Their mandate? Cmon get off it, they have done this for a long time now [nasa.gov] and likely working professionals are not exactly the target audience for such things [frinkiac.com].
They are not looking for free engineering on a fuckin' spacecraft, it's a VR simulator that everyone can access [chickenwaffle.com]. You do know what of NASA's mandates is to encourage the learning of science and engineering for the country and it's youth no? There are no shortages of public campaigns they do with schools and museums around the country, which I think is
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Their mandate? Cmon get off it, they have done this for a long time now [nasa.gov] and likely working professionals are not exactly the target audience for such things [frinkiac.com].
They are not looking for free engineering on a fuckin' spacecraft, it's a VR simulator that everyone can access [chickenwaffle.com]. You do know what of NASA's mandates is to encourage the learning of science and engineering for the country and it's youth no? There are no shortages of public campaigns they do with schools and museums around the country, which I think is probably a good use for a team of "highly paid" NASA people based on the outcomes.
You don't like that contests have to be run that way? Go talk to a lawyer and have them draw you up a contest contrct that allows all the exceptions you want, then read the bill you'll get for admistrating it. Don't like it? Don't blame the "corruption" boogeyman, blame 200+ years of contract law precedent.
If you really think this is a prime and important example of class warfare relative to the real fucking problems out there your overton window has been fucking annihilated in my opinion. "Government bad" is not an all-encompassing coherent ideology, it's a childish dopamine hit.
This is the part of NASA's mandate I think applies
(8) The most effective utilization of the scientific and engineering resources of the United States, ...
Personally, I don't see things like contests as being 'the most effective utilization of the scientific and engineering resources of the United States'. Do you?
Is it possible for you to discuss this without resorting to profanities?
We already have an education system; shouldn't the education system being in charge of developing educational material?
Actuall
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You can't hold this type of contest without holding perpetual license because otherwise how do you return it?
What? That isn't even wrong. You don't even return digital assets.
How do you prove nothing in the future ever was inspired or copied from the losing submissions?
How do you prove anything was not inspired or copied from anything?
Similar to how television shows don't even open any scripts or ideas you send them if they were not solicited.
They don't open that shit because they don't want it. If it were worth something you'd have been able to get them interested through the usual channels.
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They can't return it is exactly the point.
How do you prove it wasnt inspired and why they don't open scripts are exactly related. If you read somethig that's mailed in and a similar joke or similar plotline or anything shows up later and the original author sees a similarity now they can bring a lawsuit.
Now the impetetus is on th author a bit to prove it was plagarized but there is precedent and that's why it's done this way. When there are contents to submit jokes or plots or whatever those things also
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So we're supposed to develop a game for free, with original art and code, and hope to be awarded a grand prize of $3.500?
Welcome to the Open Source Metaverse . . . folks put in a lot work for no direct benefit.
Of course, if you do win, you will probably land a juicy contractor gig with NASA.
Or maybe the publicity will attract some other folks with money to your project.
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Or one of the game studios that already have a Mars game could enter with a modified version.
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So we're supposed to develop a game for free, with original art and code, and hope to be awarded a grand prize of $3.500?
I wonder what the monthly salary of the person who organized this is?
Very cool initiative (Score:3)
For example, it could be a fun class assignment for people who study 3D to build something interesting together for this project.
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A lot of the data for Mars is already going to come from agencies like NASA. Heck some of the models for vehicles and building could come from them.
NASA needs our help? (Score:2)
So... BFG9000? (Score:2)
So where do we hide the BFG-9000, and do we avoid stepping on green carpet?
hm (Score:2)
As much money as NASA consumes to produce absolutely nothing, you would think that one asshole in the entire organization could make a rock simulator ... but no, they need YOUR help
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Purpose is... (Score:5, Interesting)
The purpose of this is not to get help or innovation. The purpose is to increase engagement from the public and positive press coverage. NASA's funding relies primarily on how much the public likes them. This is all about PR, not about engineering or science.
Infinite achivements (Score:2)
NASA understands: you can only do something first once. But you can announce you're going to do something first an infinite number of times, and reap the rewards that come from attention and interest.
I've lost track of how many times NASA has announced we're going to Mars
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No, what you read was not a NASA announcement, it was some politician. NASA doesn't set its priorities and objectives, they're set by Congress and the president. Every president since Bush the Elected has announced that the US was going to the moon, but not a single one of them has worked at getting the budget in place to do any such thing.
NASA sent men to the moon with a maximum of 4.5% of the federal budget. They're currently under 0.45%, and have been for over a generation. In the meantime the mili
Stationeers (Score:1)
StressLevel0 (Score:2)
I can see the folks at Stress Level 0 doing some very interesting work here....