Soon, a virtual journey to space for just $100
'Virtual Ride to Space' plans to use cutting-edge virtual technology and a specially designed spacecraft to deliver a three-dimensional (3D), immersive experience
Ahmedabad: Those who can’t afford to book the $250,000 ride to space on billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson’s space flight Virgin Galactic may want to consider a virtual ride that UK-based Surrey Space Centre (SSC) hopes to offer sometime next year. It may not be the real thing, but it costs $249,900 less.
SSC is part of University of Surrey that specializes in small- and micro-satellites, space robotics research and low-cost space missions.
“This project is about enabling us—the remaining 99.999992%, to get that (space) experience. If we succeed, we will use it for other areas like undersea and even for satellite projects at SSC," said India-born Savan Chhaniyara over the phone from the UK.
The 32-year-old Chhaniyara, who obtained his engineering degree from Nirma University in Ahmedabad, is part of a four-member team working on the ambitious project called ‘Virtual Ride to Space’. The team is headed by Aaron Knoll and includes Thomas Frame and Thomas Harle.
‘Virtual Ride to Space’ plans to use cutting-edge virtual technology and a specially designed spacecraft to deliver a three-dimensional (3D), immersive experience that will allow everyone to see what astronauts experience on their ascent to space.
“‘Ride to Space’ will give all aspiring astronauts the chance to be a virtual passenger, riding the balloon to space, and unlike other Galactic flights, it won’t cost the earth to be on board," said Knoll in response to emailed questions.
This project will use video footage collected by 24 GoPro cameras that are carried to the edge of space by a high altitude balloon to reconstruct a virtual immersive recreation of the journey.
The balloon will deflate, and a parachute will open up and during the ascent, these cameras will capture panoramic footage of the balloon’s journey to space, according to Chhaniyara.
Thereafter, specialized software will stitch the footage together to recreate a panoramic view of the space trip.
The subsequent space ride will then be viewed using Oculus Rift—developed by virtual technology company Oculus VR Inc.—which delivers a high-definition widefield view of the 3D virtual environment for the user. A soundtrack feature will overlay music on top of actual audio recorded by the cameras. Also, one can incorporate one’s own MP3 playlist instead of the default audio tracks.
“The software will allow you to slow down, speed up, or even reverse time. All with an immersive panoramic view of the earth as you ascend slowly to space," said Chhaniyara.
Besides Oculus Rift, the team is creating two additional versions of the software to work with smartphones and personal computers.
“For the smartphone package, the camera view will be controlled by the 3D orientation of the phone itself using built-in gyroscope and accelerometer data. For the PC version, the camera view will be controlled using the mouse (similar to a First Person Shooter game). Either way, you’ll be able to look around freely in real-time as if you were a virtual passenger riding the balloon to space," said Knoll.
The project did face challenges.
For one, there’s a likelihood that the balloon would spin and swing during the trip, for which the motion needs to be captured and corrected during the data post-processing. Second, the spacecraft needs to transmit its location at the end of the trip so that the team can find it once it lands. This will be accomplished using a SPOT Satellite Messenger—a GPS (global positioning system) tracking device that uses the Globalstar satellite network to provide text messaging and GPS tracking.
Moreover, the upper atmosphere is very cold—average of -55C, “so a hand warmer will be used to keep things cozy", said Chhaniyara.
The £30,000 project will be funded by public contributions through the crowd-sourcing funding platform, Kickstarter. Till date, the team has collected about £4,000 and hopes to reach the target before 3 April. To attract funding from countries like India, the team has begun accepting as little as £1, or about ₹ 100, per individual.
The team will work on development of Oculus VR smartphone and PC software from September onwards, and hopes to complete the project by April, 2015.
In the future, Savan hopes to give viewers a “cooler" virtual experience of a complete orbit around the earth on a proper satellite but added that panoramic high-definition cameras would require much more investment than the balloon project.
The idea of space tourism has been around for long. According to a video presentation to raise money for Virtual Ride to Space, only 530 humans have travelled to space.
Founded in 1998, Space Adventures Ltd began providing opportunities for actual private spaceflight and space tourism. Its ZERO-G Experience uses a specially modified Boeing 727 where parabolic arcs are performed to create a weightless environment, allowing one to float, flip and soar as if in space.
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority has invested $209 million in its Spaceport America project where it is setting up the world’s first purpose-built, commercial spaceport, intended to be the launch-pad of the global commercial spaceflight industry and the second space age. The first phase of construction includes basic operational infrastructure such as an airfield, launch pads, terminal/hangar facility, emergency response capabilities, utilities and roadways.
In Europe, EADS Astrium, Europe’s largest space company has been working on a project to develop a space jet for fare-paying passengers that would make short hops above the atmosphere. The Boeing Crew Space Transportation-100 (CST-100) vehicle was developed as part of Nasa’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Commercial Crew Programme. It can accommodate up to seven passengers or a mix of crew and cargo and will transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and other low Earth orbit destinations such as the Bigelow planned station.
Virgin Galactic aims to launch its first space flight within few a months, marking the first commercial trip into outer space in history.
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