Virtual reality in space exploration with Victor Luo from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Hello listeners! On today's show I speak with Victor Luo is leading development on the human interface aspects of tele-robotics at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Come along as we discuss using VR with astronauts in space, colonizing mars, finding life in Europa and much more! Here is a quick preview of some of the things we talked about: 30 : Victor's Role at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory 1:10 The human interfaces research group at Nasa 2:21 Describing Victor's demo at the VR Hackathon. 3:40 What role will human interfaces play in space exploration. 4:50 How long has NASA been paying attention to VR and telepresence? 6:40 What sorts of uses will the HMD be used for by NASA. Walking around Mars using an HMD. 9:39 How will telerobotics and vr influence space exploration? 11:22 Putting a livestreaming 360 video camera on the International Space Station. 12:20 Experimenting with Virtual Reality in Microgravity. 14:30 Using VR to combat some of the psychological impacts of deep space travel. 18:40 What's next after mars? What will future NASA missions look like. 23:00 What would it mean for NASA if we discovered some form of sentient life on another celestial body. Is humanity ready for that discovery? 25:00 What aspects of virtual reality will NASA find the most value in ? 27:00 Will asteroid mining enable the creation of the word's first trillionaire? 29:00 Pragmatic challenges of using VR and telerobotics. 32:00 Impacts of prolonged use of VR on the human mind? 32:40 Victor's personal motivations. 34:00 The process of creating interfaces. 36:00 Increasing the efficacy of doing science by incorporating immersive environments. 39:00 Landing on a Martian pole to harvest its water. 41:00 What happened to the water on Mars? 43:00 How to get people motivated and excited about space exploration. 45:00 Crowd sourcing space exploration to the hive mind. 46:00 What will it take for humans to have a permanent presence on Mars? 49:45 Utilizing fear to motivate humans to expand our reach in space. 53:00 Will VR be a victim of its success? 57:31 Seeing the universe from the astronauts perspective using VR. 59:30 Will we see the birth of the first human to not be born on earth in this century? 1:02:30 Is NASA interested in exploring the deep sea or excavating to the earth's core? 1:05:00 Nasa's funding challenges. What is the return on investment for colonizing Mars? http://vicluo.com/ https://twitter.com/victorocks http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/27/4154900/nasa-athlete-leap-motion-GDC