Those last three minutes of “terror” were a watershed between the success of an entire space program and the mourning of an entire civilization, which would have decreed the probable premature end of man’s lunar adventure. Neil Armstrong took over the hand controls of the Lem, the Apollo 11 landing module, and led Eagle to its fate, landing delicately on the soft dust of the Sea of Tranquility, on July 20, 1969.
The virtual reality landing seen from inside the spacecraft
Those pivotal moments became a virtual reality videogame. Moon landing is a simulator, developed three years ago by Virtual Immersions in Science, a spin-off of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, for M9, the Museo del 900 in Mestre, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of that first moon landing. And presented today at the Meet digital culture center in Milan together with a new type of experience, Moon landing 360in which you can choose to be mere spectators, sitting next to Armstrong driving the Lem.
Space tourism
Space tourism, Blue Origin made its fourth suborbital flight
by Pier Luigi Pisa
The adrenaline of the descent
By now everyone knows that there were a few seconds (15, maybe 25) of fuel left to decide to continue or abort the mission, returning to the orbit where Michael Collins was waiting for Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, to bring them home. Once you put on the virtual reality viewer in 4K, you are faced with the module’s cockpit, and its dozens of buttons, perfectly reconstructed after consulting the original Grumman designs of the 60s.
The car is back to travel to the moon: the last is from 1972
by Vincenzo Borgomeo
Unlike the crew of 1969, however, steering the ship here is much simpler. But it is not easy: “You have to dose the fuel, you have to adjust the horizontal and vertical speed with the retractor, and the inclination which must be 0 degrees, and finally go down inside the blue circle which is the one where Apollo 11 landed. – explains a Italian Tech Marcos Valdes, CEO and scientific director of Vis – next to the player there is Buzz Aldrin, the experience is based on realistic physical parameters, it is difficult, not everyone succeeds at the first attempt “. It is a detail to keep in mind, an injection of adrenaline: Armstrong and Aldrin did not have a second token to repeat the game, for them it would have been really “game over”.
The birth of the virtual reality moon landing project
VR for disclosure
From the NASA archives, the images were chosen for an accurate reconstruction of the lunar soil and the parameters to reproduce the realistic effect of the propulsion. Valdes is an astrophysicist, he gave birth to Vis, the first spin-off born from a program of the Normale, whose mission is to develop new tools for high-level scientific dissemination, using multimedia technologies and virtual reality for gamification. “To do this we needed other expertise in addition to the scientific one, we found it in a partner who is the creative director, Mattia Sgherra, videomaker and visual artist – continues Valdes – and above all in a partner and industrial partner, the ETT spa of Genoa https://ettsolutions.com/, which is among the most important companies in Italy in all that is new media, immersive and interactive experiences “.
All’Meet digital culture center, assieme a Moon landing, Vis physicists and creatives also presented another product: the 360 ° video version. Another experience, this time as a spectator (or co-driver) as Aldrin, while Armstrong is maneuvering. Both applications are part of an offer that Vis intends to present to potential buyers, in Italy and around the world, as a powerful tool for scientific dissemination: “The 360 ° version is more flexible, we propose it commercially to museums and planetariums, after having presented it at Expo Dubai together with INAF – adds the astrophysicist – there is already interest from various schools and universities, including the Dubai Planetarium. The piloted version is better configured for larger installations such as museums and temporary exhibitions, there is a need for workstations and viewers connected to computers ”.
Knowing new worlds
Moon Landing it is not meant to be in an arcade. Vis, which is part of the ETT group, intends to commercially exploit the potential of immersive and interactive reality in learning. From a Pwc study https://www.pwc.com/us/en/tech-effect/emerging-tech/virtual-reality-study.html it appears that VR and interactivity increase learning speed by four times compared to to a frontal lesson and the confidence in discussing and applying what has been learned in VR is much greater (+ 40%) than learning in the classroom, and + 35% compared to e-learning.
Peace mission for AstroSamantha: “In space with the Russians. Maybe we will take a walk together”
by Elena Dusi
Once you have created a model, a platform, you can think about how to ‘dress’ it, expand it, to fly to other worlds or to the infinitely intimate: “The whole sector of 360 video production is very strong, and allows you to see scientific data from a different perspective – concludes Valdes – even the area of neuroscience for example, let’s think about a journey inside the brain and neurons. But the Cosmos always remains the first love. Moon landing could become Space landing, the simulation of SpaceX descending to Mars, or perhaps to Titan. Just change parameters, it can be adapted to many other environments. Beautiful experiences but not only entertainment but also knowledge “.
Innovation Almanac – April 17, 1970
Apollo 13 Splashdown, Story of “A Successful Failure”
by Riccardo Luna
