Virtual reality multi-user space systems mission design and simulation: Engaging the public through open-source collaboration
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2018 International Astronautical Federation IAF. All rights reserved. Public education has been transformed by the interactivity and experience a Virtual Environment (VE) can provide for the user. At Texas A&M University, spaceCRAFT, a multi-user Virtual Reality (VR) space mission simulation platform has been developed with an aim to allow anyone to contribute to humanity's future in space. The platform is a new concept for collaborative space system and mission design. Everything we build in the future will soon be designed, built, tested, and experienced virtually before it ever exists in the real world. This project proposes to introduce a virtual reality platform that can be used to learn and conduct collaborative engineering design. The students and public society of today will need to embrace and master the tools to model, simulate, integrate and prove their designs in virtual environments. SpaceCRAFT will create the opportunity for experiential learning, which is now well-established as being critical for teaching efficiency and student retention. Enabling public, government, university, and commercial entities to collaborate in the design, use and evaluation of technology for future operations in space. Taking advantage of the latest technology, our future among the stars can be designed, simulated, and tested here on Earth. This paper focuses on discussing strategies and results of including the general public in the open-source development of spaceCRAFT. Unlike the traditional methods of space education including studying textbooks, reading research papers, and working through math problems, spaceCRAFT allows for the general public to experience specific scenarios and discover new lands within a virtual reality Head-mounted Display (HMD). A virtual collaboration tool provides a unique way to display and inspire the public, and such a new experience is what may be needed to inspire the public to think towards the future and ponder about concepts that they traditionally may not ever ponder.
