{"id":17869,"date":"2019-11-27T23:01:56","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T15:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/expedition-titan-uses-mixed-reality-to-turn-saturns-mysterious-moon-into-a-thrill-ride\/"},"modified":"2019-11-27T23:01:56","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T15:01:56","slug":"expedition-titan-uses-mixed-reality-to-turn-saturns-mysterious-moon-into-a-thrill-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/expedition-titan-uses-mixed-reality-to-turn-saturns-mysterious-moon-into-a-thrill-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Expedition Titan uses mixed reality to turn Saturn\u2019s mysterious moon into a thrill ride"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_535223\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-535223\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-535223\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/20191122_Expedition_Titan_14-630x420.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/20191122_Expedition_Titan_14-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/20191122_Expedition_Titan_14-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/20191122_Expedition_Titan_14-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/20191122_Expedition_Titan_14-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/20191122_Expedition_Titan_14.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-535223\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">GeekWire\u2019s Alan Boyle (foreground) and University of Washington planetary scientist Baptiste Journaux take a thrill ride through an ice volcano, courtesy of Expedition Titan, a mixed-reality experience at Seattle\u2019s Pacific Science Center. (GeekWire Photo \/ Kevin Lisota)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s doubtful anyone alive today will get to ride through the ice volcanoes of Saturn\u2019s largest moon \u2014 but you can do the next best thing at Seattle\u2019s Pacific Science Center, thanks to a mixed-reality experience called Expedition Titan.<\/p>\n<p>The walk-through production is the latest showcase for Hyperspace XR, a startup-in-residence that\u2019s pioneering the frontiers of mixed reality at the science center.<\/p>\n<p>That frontier is associated with other labels of immersive experiences, including virtual reality (MR), extended reality (XR) and augmented reality (AR). Hyperspace XR\u2019s brand of mixed reality involves creating a real-world environment \u2014 complete with walls, doorways and furnishings \u2014 that you experience in virtual reality with the aid of a headset.<\/p>\n<p>For example, when you strap on a backpack laden with electronics and put on your VR goggles, it looks as if you\u2019re inside a spaceship, walking to a bench in a hangar-sized observation deck. But you\u2019re actually walking through a sparsely furnished maze whose walls that have been marked with abstract black-and-white patterns. Those patterns help Hyperspace\u2019s software figure out how to maintain the visual illusion in your VR goggles as you move around.<\/p>\n<p>In your headphones, you hear a virtual guide talk you through a blastoff to Titan, a walk-through of a visitors center on the moon\u2019s surface, and a ride through the depths of a cryovolcano. You\u2019re even called upon to turn on your gesture-controlled blaster and clear away falling rocks in the volcano\u2019s cavern, lest you be crushed to smithereens. (Spoiler alert: You\u2019ll survive, even if you\u2019re a terrible shot.)<\/p>\n<p>Breezes from air vents and rumblings from vibrating floors add to the sense that you\u2019re really in the place you see through your headset.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the 15-minute adventure, you\u2019re rewarded with a goggle-filling view of Saturn and its rings, hanging above the horizon.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Expedition Titan at the Pacific Science Center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Y2Uj-rlYweo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the first fantasy for Hyperspace XR, which began building mixed-reality experiences at Pacific Science Center two years ago. In February, my GeekWire colleague Kurt Schlosser went through the startup\u2019s previous adventure, a magic-laced tour called Wonderfall. (For what it\u2019s worth, he and his son loved it.)<\/p>\n<p>Hyperspace CEO Jeff Ludwyck said experts on museum exhibits gave Wonderfall a high rating, but told him that the area required to run the tour would have to be shrunk from 3,000 square feet to about 1,000 square feet if he wanted to make the business model work.<\/p>\n<p>Another lesson from the Wonderfall experience is that variety is the spice of VR life. Now Ludwyck envisions creating a mixed-reality space that can accommodate four or five completely different VR tours with the flick of a switch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne group will come up and say, \u2018I want Titan,\u2019 and the next group will come up and say, \u2018I want to travel back to the Renaissance,\u2019 \u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Titan is intriguing on several counts, especially for science centers:<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the second-largest moon in the solar system (only Jupiter\u2019s moon Ganymede is larger). It\u2019s the only moon that has a thick, opaque atmosphere, consisting of nitrogen and smoggy hydrocarbons. It\u2019s the only celestial body besides Earth known to have liquid on its surface, in the form of lakes and rivers of methane and ethane. It has what appear to be dunes and ice volcanoes, and scientists say it could contain the precursors of life\u2019s chemistry.<\/p>\n<p>In June, NASA gave its go-ahead for a mission called Dragonfly, which aims to deliver a nuclear-powered drone to Titan\u2019s surface in 2034.<\/p>\n<p>All this made Titan a natural focus for Hyperspace\u2019s next adventure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe love space, and Mars is overdone,\u201d Ludwyck said. \u201cSo we went with the only other potentially habitable planet in our solar system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That statement could spark an argument with some planetary scientists \u2014 over Ludwyck\u2019s use of the word \u201cplanet\u201d to refer to a moon, for example, or over the potential livability of a world whose maximum surface temperature is 290 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. But that didn\u2019t keep the planetary scientist who accompanied me on my Titan tour, Baptiste Journaux, from enjoying the experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is very impressive,\u201d said Journaux, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Washington who\u2019s associated with the NASA Astrobiology Institute.<\/p>\n<style>.fotorama1782799841973 .fotorama__nav--thumbs .fotorama__nav__frame{\npadding:2px;\nheight:64px}\n.fotorama1782799841973 .fotorama__thumb-border{\nheight:60px;\nborder-width:2px;\nmargin-top:2px}<\/style>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191126-titan-asteroids3-1260x704.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 715.909px; height: 400px; left: 42.0455px; top: 0px;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tBefore reaching Titan, travelers have to blast through asteroids. (Hyperspace XR Graphic)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191126-titan-saturn-1260x735.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 685.714px; height: 400px; left: 57.1429px; top: 0px;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tSaturn\u2019s rings spread wide in this virtual-reality view from Expedition Titan. In reality, Saturn\u2019s rings are more likely to be seen edge-on from Titan\u2019s vantage point. (Hyperspace XR Graphic)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191126-titan-boyle-1260x900.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 560px; height: 400px; left: 120px; top: 0px;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tGeekWire\u2019s Alan Boyle tries to use hand gestures to fire his virtual-reality blaster, without much success. (GeekWire Photo \/ Kevin Lisota)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191126-titan-asteroids3-1260x704.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 115px; height: 64.254px; left: 0px; top: -0.126984px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191126-titan-boyle-1260x900.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 90px; height: 64.2857px; left: 0px; top: -0.142857px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191126-titan-hands2-1260x701.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 115.036px; height: 64px; left: -0.0178317px; top: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191126-titan-terrain-1260x692.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 117px; height: 64.2571px; left: 0px; top: -0.128571px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191126-titan-visitors-1260x704.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 115px; height: 64.254px; left: 0px; top: -0.126984px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191126-titan-cassini-1260x701.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 115.036px; height: 64px; left: -0.0178317px; top: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/191126-titan-saturn-1260x735.png\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 110px; height: 64.1667px; left: 0px; top: -0.0833333px;\"><\/p>\n<p>Journaux had a few quibbles about the science, as you\u2019d expect from someone who specializes in the study of icy moons, including Titan as well as Europa and Enceladus. He pointed out that the eruption threatening to engulf us during our trip through an ice volcano was more likely to consist of slow-moving slush than fast-rising lava. And because Titan is in roughly the same orbital plane as Saturn\u2019s rings, we wouldn\u2019t be able to get the impressive off-angle view of the rings that served as the big finish for our tour.<\/p>\n<p>Such quibbles should be easily fixable \u2014 or at least forgivable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve taken creative liberties,\u201d Ludwyck acknowledged. \u201cBut we\u2019ve also tried to give facts about Titan. The real goal of this is, when people walk out, to have this \u2018wow\u2019 moment, like, \u2018I just traveled there \u2026 and I learned some things along the way.\u2019 It\u2019s more important that we give them a really exceptional experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When we went through Expedition Titan, the software was still officially in beta mode, but Hyperspace\u2019s team is closing in on Version 1.0.&nbsp; One of the priorities is to align Hyperspace\u2019s virtual-reality world more precisely with the real-world furnishings, to make sure you don\u2019t run into a wall when you think you\u2019ll be walking through a doorway.<\/p>\n<p>Diana Johns, the Pacific Science Center\u2019s vice president of exhibits and life sciences, said having the center\u2019s patrons participate in the fine-tuning process is one of the strengths of the startup-in-residence program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s this symbiosis between having a startup here and what we\u2019re trying to do in our mission: connecting more with our community and showing the community what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Johns said. \u201cIt just works, if it\u2019s the right product. In terms of technology, our guests love that. They\u2019re interested in things like VR, AR, MR, AI, all of those things. It\u2019s stuff that we think our guests are actually going to want to be participants in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Expedition Titan is open to ages 10 and up at the Pacific Science Center, located at Seattle Center. Tickets are $15 for the general public, $12 for members. <\/em><em>To learn more about Titan and Saturn, check out NASA\u2019s Solar System Exploration website as well as the websites for the Cassini orbiter mission, the Huygens lander mission and the upcoming Dragonfly mission. To learn more about what Baptiste Journaux studies, check out his personal research page and NASA\u2019s project page for \u201cHabitability of Hydrocarbon Worlds: Titan and Beyond.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GeekWire\u2019s Alan Boyle (foreground) and University of Washington planetary scientist Baptiste Journaux take a thrill ride through an ice volcano, courtesy of Expedition Titan, a mixed-reality experience at Seattle\u2019s Pacific Science Center. (GeekWire Photo \/ Kevin Lisota) It\u2019s doubtful anyone alive today will get to ride through the ice volcanoes of Saturn\u2019s largest moon \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4892,4915,4916,4917,4918,4636,4637],"class_list":["post-17869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-augmented-reality","tag-expedition-titan","tag-hyperspace-xr","tag-mixed-reality","tag-pacific-science-center","tag-virtual-reality","tag-vr"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}