Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Credit: HeroX/NASA MarsXR Challenge

A crowdsourcing competition, NASA MarsXR Challenge, seeks contributions to a Virtual Reality (XR) testbed environment that replicates the experiences and situations astronauts may encounter on Mars.

HeroX, a leading platform and open marketplace for crowdsourced solutions, launched the challenge today.

To facilitate research, development, and testing using virtual reality, NASA, in collaboration with Buendea, is developing the Mars XR Operations Support System using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5 (UE5). Participants of the NASA MarsXR Challenge will gain first access to this virtual reality environment, which includes:

• Full Martian days, with the orange hues of day transitioning to blue at night.
• Changing weather conditions and Martian gravity.
• Over 400 km2 (~ 154 Miles2) of realistic, researched Mars terrain.
• Some existing assets, such as suits and rovers.

There are five (5) different categories to participate in, with particular scenarios to explore in each category: 

Digging in…on Mars.
Credit: NASA Langley Advanced Concepts Lab/Analytical Mechanics Associates

Set Up Camp

Scientific Research

Maintenance

Exploration

Blow Our Minds

The Prize

Up to 20 participants who submit the top ideas will share a total prize purse of $70,000.

Challenge participants will be tasked with developing assets and scenarios within the virtual reality environment that model the types of tasks that may need to be performed during early human expeditions to Mars, which can then be used to expose researchers and test subjects to immersive and realistic spacewalk activities while on the Red Planet. Information gained from these simulations could help NASA prepare for future human exploration of Mars.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“Whether you’re a game designer, architect, hobbyist or rocket scientist, anyone can build with UE5, and we can’t wait to see the immersive simulations the community comes up with.”

Eligibility to Compete and Win Prize(s)

The prize is open to anyone aged 18 or older participating as an individual or as a team. Individual competitors and teams may originate from any country, as long as United States federal sanctions do not prohibit participation (some restrictions apply).

To accept the challenge, visit:  https://www.herox.com/MarsXR