Panel – Space Innovation with Extended Reality

Dave moderates a panel discussion about the use of VR, AR, and XR in space exploration and education. Panelists are Rob Ray, Senior Designer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Dr. Susan Jewell, founder of Mars Academy USA and avatarMEDIC. This discussion occurred on November 12th, 2019, at the Digital Hollywood conference in Los Angeles. Digital Hollywood (https://www.digitalhollywood.com/) debuted in 1993 and is among the leading trade conferences in its field with over 15,000 top executives in the film, television, music, home video, cable, telecommunications and computer industries attending events each year. Organizer Victor Harwood is considered a leading authority on the convergence of the entertainment and technology industries. Rob Ray is a Senior Designer in the Human-Centered Design Group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. At JPL, Rob leads the human-centered design practice for ProtoSpace, the Lab's flagship AR platform for scientists and engineers. ProtoSpace uses AR technologies to tranform 3D CAD drawings into immersive, collaborative, problem-solving environments. As the design lead for ProtoSpace, Rob works to mak it something akin to a rollercoaster ride that boiled the perfect egg – a simultinaety of spectacle and utility. Rob is also a visual artist (http://robray.net/) and co-host of the Opposable Thumbs creative challenge podcast. (https://www.opposablepodcast.com/) Dr. Susan Jewell has been a leader, innovater, speaker, and educator in the areas of space exploration, space medicine, edutainment, and "astropreneurship." She has built crew teams for expeditions and analog missions in isolated and extreme environments. She pioneered Mars Academy USA (https://marsacademyusa.com/) and the Space Surgery Institute (https://spacesurgeryinstitute.com/), organizations that focus on developing simulation-based training programs and VR/AR edutainment content to lay the groundwork for settlement of Mars and the moon. Video of this panel session can be viewed here (https://vimeo.com/374982025). Special Guests: Rob Ray and Susan Jewell.