What’s Behind This Door? – Prototype Immersive Technologies (PIT) Lab

"What’s Behind This Door?" takes you behind the doors of various facilities located at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston being used to return humanity to the Moon, through the Artemis campaign. The series features interviews with NASA experts and provides a rare insight into all the preparation as teams get ready for lunar missions. This episode takes place in Building 16 at NASA Johnson in the Prototype Immersive Technologies (PIT) Lab, which provides a space for concept operations development, evaluation and testing. It features simulation software engineer Billy Young who demonstrates how virtual reality provides an immersive experience to train NASA astronauts for Artemis missions where they will experience challenging lighting conditions caused by permanently shadowed regions. Join NASA as we go forward to the Moon and on to Mars -- discover the latest on Earth, the Solar System and beyond with a weekly update in your inbox. Subscribe at: https://www.nasa.gov/subscribe

What is said in the film

Kind of have to plan it and hold it, but I can. I'm ready. All right. Perfect. Hey, I'm here at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Building 16.

And I wonder what's behind this door? Hello. Hi. My name is Billy Young. I am a simulation software engineer here in the Prototype Immersive Technologies Lab, or PIT for short.

So that's what we're in right now. We are in the PIT. And what we do here is make simulations in virtual reality or VR that we can train people in. We can put people in space environments and get them an immersive experience that helps them train for the missions that they're going to be going on. A lot of what we do has to do with Artemis.

So we are taking the lunar surface on the South pole, which is where NASA wants to land for those missions. And we are going to simulate the lighting conditions especially. So can I try a scenario? Let's get you set up. Wow, that's so cool.

So when we land on the moon, what's like the first step? The first step is going to be to really kind of get down to the surface and kind of assess the immediate terrain. And then, I think from there, you know, you're going to have your crew, you're going to have your flight controllers, and they're going to be planning their, EVAs from there. So what we're looking at right here is the NASA reference habitat. And then to your right here, that is the lander.

Like look at the long shadows. Is that accurate. Like how long these shadows are going to be. Oh yeah. Like you can see these habitats are going on for miles and miles down, down the, landscape.

Yeah. Because look at just like my legs on the moon. We're not going to have G. P. S.

, for the first couple Artemis missions. So that's one thing that we test here is, you know, hey, our shadows are pointed one direction. Can we kind of use that as a compass? So. Wow.

If I walk, I'm leaving bootprints. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we do have it. And that's that's actually a really interesting part of these traverses, because we'll have people go out two kilometers and then we'll say, all right, time to go back to the lander.

Is that the sun? That is the sun. So we have oh, that's actually kind of cool. I can, like, block it. So.

Yeah. Yeah. If you put your hand up, you can block it. If you get behind a crater or anything, that will also block the sunlight. So, yeah, here we are on the lunar surface.

Am I in a crater right now? So are you like that because, like, I can't see how deep it is. Right. And see, this is this isn't even that big of a crater. It's maybe like a meter two meters across, like.

But you cannot tell how deep that is, that we're about to make it really dark. Are we? Yeah. oh No. If you take your right hand, if you press the trigger.

You'll turn your lights on. Oh, hey. Now I can see that crater! And so look deeper during the day. It's like, let's say we're at the bottom of Shackleton Crater.

Yeah, we could use our lights and we can see a lot better, but we can only see within. You know, this limited range here. I'm going to I'm going to toss you a rock here. Go long! see if I throw it Oh, there it goes!

Goodbye! Yeah. We have the tool cart here. Which if you use both hands, like a shopping cart, you can you can ride it around. Oh, is that a toolbelt?

Yes. We have some of the tools on on the swing arm for the xEMU suit. On the right you have sample markers. We have the camera as well. If you pointed somewhere, you can actually take a picture.

Oh, smile. So normally what you would do here is you would put that down next to a rock you like, take a picture of it and then dig up the rock, put it in your sample bag and then pick this guy back up. I can't pick it up. Oh, I got it! there you go.

A lot of what we're doing is for the lunar missions for Artemis. But we would like to use this for Mars missions in the future, and potentially even develop training that can be taken on the space station. So if, whatever craft you're in, if you might be on there for a while, it would be nice to have training come with you. And that's something that we can do. We can make programs that go on, the headsets that go on the spaceships, and the crew can train while they're on their mission.

They have cameras that kind of help with the tracking. So the tracking is a lot better. And also, as you can probably feel that headsets a lot lighter, a Hey, I'm here at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Building 16. And I wonder what's behind this store. A donut.

You eat a donut? I did from the front and now I think I am. Oh, I just realized my nails match my shirt. I'm doing the same. Check for the share box.

I know I was meant to wear this sweater because my nails match it. It's slippery. Let's do anything. Doing anything for Christmas. I'm flying home to New York.

It's going to be great. When you play it Saturday at 5:30 a. m.. I'm just going to stay awake. It's gonna be great.

Yeah. Honestly, it's gotta be the airport at three. Can you. Sorry. So how do you know Wayland?

I'm just from interning. Okay. I interned here. I've known him since, like, 2019. He's been here?

Yeah, he's like one of my best friends. Yeah. That's so funny. Thanks for the call, though. Yeah.

That is. That's weird. I saw the small the Aggie Ring, and I was like, do you really know what I'm doing? I mean, I don't know. Yeah, no, he knows Wayland, but not for sure.

Yeah, I've yet to meet someone with an Aggie ring that does not know. You know, it's so funny. It's really funny. I mean, I think I'm hearing something rustling in. In your cable.

The cable. Yeah. Which way is that? Run. Like, straight down.

Down and back. There. I'm at the shop. What's that? Just.

Sorry. I'm just going to take this all the way up. I think that's good. Oh. Oh, yeah.

The curse of the month. Oh, really? All right. Just center. Oh, much, much better.

Okay. Yeah. Testing, testing. It's okay. Better, better.

Okay. Sounds good. I got to take you. Then I'll be outside. Do we have the questions?

Running it? Yeah. She has. Yeah. I sent the civic.

I sent it all to you guys. Yeah. We already? Yeah, right. I'm good to go.

Okay. How should I. Should I just ask him to say. I'm just gonna ask you all to introduce yourselves. Okay.

Can I touch you? Yeah. Okay. I'll just. Yeah.

It's frizzy because it's humid, too. Just going in your ear. Yeah. And the other side of her is cinder cone on her face. Separate area.

Can you go out for a minute? Like that. You know it. Touch. You can touch it.

Go for it. So when I. Okay. Just kind of run some of the questions through. Just take a peek.

Yeah, I know. So you're not talking to me. You're talking. You talking to make up for each other. But yeah, you do remember.

Just kind of talk a little bit more front facing. So your face like, okay. I okay, I think I see the vision. It's casual. It's a vlog.

It's a vlog. Okay. Just think of it as a vlog. Oh, yes. Yeah.

Like okay. Okay. Okay. Rolling. All right.

So, Billy. What? What's your title? What's your name spelled out to something? How to spell or research?

Yeah. So my name is, Billy Young. I work here in the prototype Immersive Technologies lab, and what I do here is develop VR simulations. So virtual reality simulations to help with NASA's training program. Great.

Okay. Do you want to just ask a couple of questions? Yeah. So tell me a little. No, he did tell us a little bit about himself.

So tell us a little bit about where we are. Yeah. So the pit is a lab where we have a space dedicated to developing, training simulations so we can put different space environments, in a headset. And then we can take people and put them in the headset. And we can do do different scenarios.

Can you tell me a little bit about those scenarios that you do? Yeah. So some of the scenarios that we do, a lot of them have to do with lunar lighting. So the targeted landing site for Artemis three is going to be the south Pole, at the South Pole, because the moon is in line with the sun. There is a constant about two degrees of, of having the sun up above the horizon, which means there is going to be constant, sunlight.

So that creates for very interesting lighting conditions, very long shadows of very bright surfaces and we like to test and make sure that people can actually get from point A to point B. It turns out it's very hard. And so it's a really good for us to have this platform in which people can test out different methods for getting from, let's say, the lander to the habitat, the lander to the science side, the habitat to a rover, and all of those kinds of situations. So who you keep saying like, people that test here, who are the. Wait, how do I reward?

You can just ask them who is a typical. Yeah, that. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

So who are the type of people that do the testing here? Good question. Yeah. We ask. Oh no.

You're good, you're good. Oh, did I move? Sorry. Okay. All right.

So who are the type of people that do the testing here? Yes. So we've had, a couple different types of people. We're still in the process of getting the training ready, but we would like to have it ready for crew. So the astronauts that will be going on the Artemis missions.

But another group of people that we have come in here and test their procedures are the flight controllers. So those are the people that are in mission control at their desks, at their consoles. They like to come in and have other people be in the headsets. They'd be their astronauts. And then they get to test, you know.

Is their communication good? Do the feeds that they see? Is that good? And things like that. Cool.

I kind of want to do the little bit of the history just here. Yeah. Yes. So, yes. Yeah.

Talk a little bit of the history, obviously. Just answer that question and then we'll go over to Artemis. Yeah. We'll do the little link holder. Yeah.

Actually, listen, at the end, since we're going to be. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. We'll do it. Okay.

Cool. All right. So can you tell me the different types of scenarios they do with Artemis missions? Wait, that was fine. That's fine.

Oh, man. Okay. Do the history or, let's do that at the end. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. So that way we don't change the positions and everything. Okay. So can you tell me a little bit about the, Sorry. Can you tell me a little bit about the mission, just so you can tell me a little bit about, like, what type of, you know, scenarios for the position?

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Can you tell me a little bit about the scenarios at the Artemis missions? Sorry.

I'm sorry. Okay. Let me just one of the questions is like, how does the pit support Artemis mission? Perfect. You already said.

Yeah. Okay. How does the pit support the Artemis missions? So the pit supports the Artemis missions by giving us different environments in which we can have people traverse. So a really good example is, a situation where maybe the sun is occluded by, far off mountain range, but maybe the Earth isn't.

Little fun fact, but the earth, when the Earth is fully illuminated in the sky, it is 40 times brighter than moonlight is on the earth. So that's a really interesting lighting condition where you can see more of the features, into the craters and things like that. Another situation is where if there's no illumination. So if you're at the bottom of a very deep crater, you would have these situations where we need to test and make sure. Can the lights accurately show off the hazards in the way?

Can the lights show the potential science? Because that's ultimately the goal is, can we effectively do this science? And how can we do it as effectively as possible? How does the pit help with human exploration? So the pit helps with human exploration by, giving us this sandbox in which we can, do everything that we as much as we possibly can to practice before we actually go to the lunar surface.

So going to the, you know, lunar surface, doing the science, that's, that's a lot. There's a lot of stuff to do there. And so it helps if we have as many tools as we can, to practice and make sure that we get all the procedures right. All of the different steps for doing our science. Right.

Yeah. We have many different mock ups at NASA, and this is one of them. This is one of our analogs for training. For these scenarios. How did you develop these VR scenarios?

Yeah. So we developed these VR scenarios, with Unreal Engine five. We used to use unity, but because of the lighting conditions that I mentioned earlier, Unreal Engine five has a lot of great tools for us to use to kind of show a more realistic version of this lighting, and so the more realistic we can make it, the better it'll be when the crew finally gets to the lunar surface. And what they see will hopefully be something that they've seen before. Any other questions like before?

I wanted to because you were talking about like the background did you talk a little bit about how you guys got this imagery with LRO. We can talk about, we can talk about that is like like what are we seeing. Yeah. Okay. So this is just just like a smile.

Yeah. Sorry. This is just jumping around. Yeah. So I'm going to actually ask.

Hey, you can see it in the pit. Can you come help real quick? There's some news. Wrestling around the troops. Yeah.

Well, a lot of this is going to be B-roll. Like I'm going to put B-roll over this interview. Yeah. Just, what are the types of. What are they?

We just need someone to hold each one. So I've got it so that it's not flashing in and out. Yeah. I'm not to worry, Gordon, about the TV, because I'm going to put B-roll over it of people like, yeah, they're going to send me B-roll and things of people actually breaking it. So that's why I'm not too concerned if we have like a glitch in the background where it's just.

Yeah. Is it constant? Okay. Yeah. We have so.

Okay. All we need is somebody, though. Okay. Yeah. Just because you do.

Because the tracking is messed up with the video you could use, like, in a screenshot. Yeah. If it's like overlay. Yeah. Yeah.

That all right? You want to just hold it so that it, We'll do two, two things to it. All right. Just so you guys know, I'm rolling the whole time, so we have that. Yeah.

That's fine. The last clip. Yeah. Okay. So so yeah.

So I can jump in back over. Okay. Yeah. So like we call it the turn and you want to like I think you get the terrain. Okay.

Yeah. Okay. Cool. So how did you get the terrain? So the terrain that you're seeing is a mixture of a couple different elements.

So we have, LRO data. That's the real data that a orbiting satellite took of the moon's surface. And what we did is, put on top of that a lot higher resolution data. Now, that's technically fake data, but it was created by NASA scientists, with different mathematical models to create crater distributions that you're seeing, but rocks in the right places. And this is all actually comes from Apollo data.

So it has its basis on what we already know from the moon. Can you tell me a little bit what the test subjects and the crew members do during a scenario? Yeah. So a lot of what we do is traverses. So we're really just trying to see, can we get from point A to point B and this might be two ish kilometers, which I think translates to one and like a quarter miles.

But so they're going to walk a really long distance and they're going to use different things, ages, map books. And they get to see, hey, does this crater on this map look like it? It looks like it lines up with the crater that I'm seeing in real life. And so what's really interesting about that is that depending on the day, the crater looks completely different. So we have these really interesting conditions where your lighting is going to look different.

Your terrain looks completely different depending on if the sun is over here or if the sun is over here. Cool. Can you tell me a little bit about the history and how the lab was developed? Yeah. So the pit lab is actually a offshoot from the VR lab, and so the VR lab is still down the hall, it's still in operation, and it is supporting, station operations.

So it's still supports the International Space Station. And we do a lot of different trainings there for EVAs or robotics. And so one of the most interesting things that we do there is the Safer training. Safer stands for simplified aid for Eva rescue. And that is essentially the jetpack, that they put on for their spacesuits.

So when they do a spacewalk, if they were to accidentally get untangled, and float away, they pull out a hand controller, turn on their jetpack, and they fly back. It's not really a good way to train for that. So we do that in VR at the VR lab. And we've done many, other different missions that we've supported over the years. Okay, cool.

I was just thinking, like, customize VR technology further, like, if human exploration and exploration and even just, like, testing. Okay. Why? What's so amazing about VR? Okay.

Yeah. I just forgot what you just said. How does how does rich reality like, better? Like going out and testing or like what? Okay.

How's this? How is VR training help the future of human exploration? Is that we're looking for. How does, I guess how does it compare? Like I they're trying to see like furthering like.

Yeah. How does VR training further human exploration and testing. Is that okay? Okay. In our shot here, shot.

So how does VR training help with human exploration and furthering human exploration? No. You know what we could do? We do need some questions for, like, after the fact. Yeah.

You want to do, you know, have any other questions? Yeah. Well, yeah. Let me just ask. Yeah.

Let me ask. How does VR training help with furthering human exploration? That's good. Okay. Perfect.

Okay. How does he. Oh my God. Okay. How does VR training help with furthering human exploration?

Right. So, to compare it to other training methods that we've been using here at NASA, for example, you have the NBL, the big pool where the crew can train their EVAs. And, this is kind of the next step for that, which is to, since you can't really see the lunar surface. And that might be the most important part of these missions. This is where we can see, like, these environments instead of, just practicing on, analogs that aren't as accurate to the real thing.

Can you talk a little bit about any future technologies you're developing? Yeah. So a lot of what we're doing is, lunar. So it's for the lunar missions for Artemis, but we would like to use this for Mars missions in the future and potentially even develop, training that can be take taken on the space station. So if, whatever craft you're in, if you might be on there for a while, it would be nice to have training come with you.

And that's something that we can do. We can make, programs that go on the headsets that go on the spaceships, and the crew can train while they're on their mission. Cool. What kind of feedback do you get from the crew? And what do you do with that analysis?

Okay. Yes. Okay. So what kind of feedback do you get back from the crew and some of the analysis? And what do you do with, you know, what do you do with analysis okay.

Yeah. So what kind of feedback do you get from the crew. And how do you test that analysis that they give you? So when we have people come in to train and they tell us of different things that they want to see, that's something that we will put on our requirements list. And then we go and try and develop that.

We find ways to implement that. Since it's not real life, we do have to find tricks sometimes. So we have to find ways to make the lighting do what we want it to, even though it's not really the sun that you're looking at. We've even had situations where, we've had Apollo astronauts, come in, such as Charlie Duke and, Jack Schmitt, and they've got to actually try this. And they gave us really good insight for what the lunar surface should look like.

What the rocks should look like, what the shadow should look like. And that helped us improve our simulation. Cool. On that a little bit. Well, that must have been exciting.

Okay. Wow. That must have been exciting having Charlie Duke and Jack Schmitt come here and, you know, they actually welcome them in. And so that must have been really cool. Yeah, it was really exciting to get to give them that opportunity to, see what we've been making and give them the opportunity to, to see the progress that NASA has been making.

To go back to where they got to go in the first place. I think that's everything. You want to talk about the history here? Yeah. Since we're set up.

Yes. So you want to bring the old headset we can bring you? Yeah. So we could do a funny little bit where I think about, like. Oh, yeah.

You know, this is our old hardware. Yeah. Big and heavy. I'm like, here, hold this. Okay.

And I could be like, yeah, yeah, that'd be good. Good. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. So can you talk a little bit about the history of the pit? Yeah. So, the VR lab, that is the, which is the pit is an offshoot of, started in the 90s. And so it was supporting Hubble missions with the space shuttle.

And so some of the engineers came up with these guys, which, are really antiquated headsets. So they're big, they're bulky, and, they were very, very hard to work with. So if you could, hold the shirt. Oh, it's actually heavier than what I thought. Okay.

Oh, this is really old and different, and there's a lot of wires attached to it. Okay. Yes. Can I wear it? Yeah.

We can. Okay. Like the door, right? Yeah, I can see the steam. Yes.

Okay, I can take that. What is that for? I think those are cathode rays. Are they? Do I just put it like this?

So, yeah, you kind of like, put it on top like that. Yeah. Oh, okay. Well, there's nothing on, obviously, but it's a little big for my head. Oh, yeah.

I feel like I don't know, but you just used to train on these. And then we have another system that actually went on orbit with them. And it was a big 3D printed trapezoidal piece that would go on the laptop. And so we have pictures of them putting this big bulky laptop on their head. But this is a way anything since it's in microgravity.

Yeah. But it, it looks very silly. I think I've seen that photo try on again. Yeah. Okay.

I was going to say I feel like an alien, but I was like, I don't. I stopped myself. No, because, you know. Okay, wait. Let me not talk, okay?

Okay. It's like, heavy and bulky on my head, and I don't see anything because obviously it's not working. But, yeah, I feel like a robot. Am I allowed to say that? I don't know, but cool.

Yep. All right. I like the alien. Look like an alien. I switch.

I know, I don't remember how you talk, but I kind of want to continue this conversation. He's actually a rocket scientist. Sweet. Robbie. I kind of want to know both the old and the new one.

So how did you get it? So he also went. And I have the new headset. Can I do that? Okay.

Yeah. Yeah, sure. Okay. Yeah. That is like, how did you get into.

So did you envision yourself? Is this what you envision yourself when you were a kid? When you're. Where'd you go to school? Yeah.

Okay. Okay. So did you envision yourself? Envision yourself? Oh, I'll say, did you?

Yeah. Did you always want to work at NASA? And did you think you were ever going to be working in the lab? No. I actually, you know, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a paleontologist.

But when I got to college, I ended up doing, aerospace. And so that started me off in planes. And then I kind of shifted into rockets. But then what eventually caught my attention was VR and training and getting to visualize these really, really cool space environments in a VR headset. It was very immersive, and so I had a lot of fun doing that.

So much fun to wear. I have no formal training in computer science, but I kind of ended up with that training just by working on it. With labs, with clubs at school. And then eventually I got the job here at Johnson Space Center. Awesome.

Cool. I kind of want to talk a little bit about the new and the old headsets and compare and contrast. So in that, can we down for. Yeah. So you are right on time.

Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. So Josh Bush.

Yeah. I kind of want to talk a little bit about. Yeah, yeah, that was the other part is. Yeah. Hey, we did this.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this is the old headset. Yeah.

So this is the newer headset. Can you talk a little bit about this headset and kind of the differences? Yes. So the biggest thing is that the resolution inside is going to be a lot better. The frame rate is going to be a lot better.

With these old things. It was a lot easier to get sick, because there's a lot of stuttering as you look around. So these are a lot, a lot more, tuned for that. They have cameras that kind of help with the tracking. So the tracking is a lot better.

And also as you can probably feel and it's it's a lot. It's much lighter. Yeah. So yeah people, people tend to like these a lot. Awesome.

All right. The more like the after assets. Oh yeah. Great. Okay.

Oh yeah. So I'll take that one. Yeah. And then we'll just to keep ahead of time. Yeah.

Okay. Wow. That was fun. Yeah. Glad you like it.

Thanks. Thanks for letting me try this headset. Super fun. I had a fun time walking on the moon. Yeah.

Okay. Oh, do you want him to hold one, too? Sorry. I went right on it. Okay.

Okay. Cool. Should they have a mask? No. It's okay.

It's okay. Okay. Well, wow, that was really fun. Oh, no. You're good.

Wow, that was really fun. Thanks for letting me try the headset. Yeah, absolutely. Glad you got to, experience the moon. Yeah, I got to walk on the moon today, so.

Yay! All right. Is that everything okay? Okay, cool. Thanks for letting me try the VR headset and letting me get a chance to walk them today.

All right. Yeah, absolutely. I'm glad you got to experience the moon in our simulation. Thanks. Oh, fun.

Okay. What about you? Okay, cool. I'm going to break this up. She wants me to say a one liner.

All right. Okay. So while you. Oh, sorry, I didn't realize I walked away. Wow.

So you really are rocket scientist? Yeah. I am. Okay. Good.

Okay. All right. Closing slide. Closing. Oh.

Closing, please. Market. Okay. Perfect. Scenario.

Time. Right here. Did I do good? Did I do good? Okay.

I feel very stiff, but. I mean, I would do it for I do I like for care residents. Okay. Yeah. Get all set up.

Okay. I'm going to have some kind of record jump. That's fine. And, well, I guess. Do you want to just do it for her?

Because if we could just use one side and I could just, We, We. But I think it'd be more fun. Okay. Because you don't see it. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of the interview I'm going to put, it's mostly going to be him talking and Bureau anyway. So that's why I'm like, do you want to start recording.

So these ones should you use the the G-Force recording if you just want to start recording because the G-forces on that you have you have to answer that. But obviously. So this is going to be the question. Yeah. This one.

Yeah. This. So as I said, they said they're going to send us a lot of B-roll clips of like crew members in the lab. So that and like, you know, people doing the VR. So this that's one of my concern.

Yeah. I'm not overly concerned even like on because I was afraid it would be just to the lab is going to be zero and I'm going to be cutting to him more than me anyways because he's the one doing most of the talking. So you'll just hear my voice in the back. But yeah, it'd be the top. Hey, go this way, if you don't mind.

Just because it's not a lot angle. Yeah. Cool. What time is it? 11.

Okay. Oh, we have, like, half an hour. Okay. So this is the scenario we have. It's 11.

Yeah. Time for scenario. Choose the latter. I'm ready. On the outside.

There. Are you ready? Yeah. I'm sure. Okay.

Probably just recording, but where is this device? I can get a store. There's, like, a little school up there. Oh, yeah. This is all good.

All right, guys. Rolling. All right. So, Billy. What?

What's your title? What's your name spelled out? Just so we know how to spell. Yeah. So my name is Billy Young.

I work here in the prototype Immersive Technologies lab. And what I do here is develop VR simulations. So virtual reality simulations to help with NASA's training program. Okay. Do you want to just ask a couple of questions?

Yeah. So tell me a little or know if you did tell us a little bit about this. So tell us a little bit about where we are. Yeah. So the pit is a lab where we have a space dedicated to developing, training simulations so we can put different space environments, in a headset, and then we can take people and put them in the headset.

And we can do, do different scenarios. Can you tell me a little bit about those scenarios that you do? Yeah. So some of the scenarios that we do, a lot of them have to do with linear lighting. So the targeted landing site for Artemis three is going to be the South Pole.

At the South Pole, because the moon is in line with the sun. There is a constant about two degrees of, of having the sun above the horizon, which means there is going to be constant, sunlight. So that creates for very interesting lighting conditions, very long shadows of very bright surfaces. And we like to test and make sure that people can actually get from point A to point B. It turns out it's very hard.

And so it's a really good for us to have this platform in which people can test out different methods for getting from, let's say, the lander to the habitat, the lander to the science side, the habitat to a rover, and all of those kinds of situations. So who you keep saying like, people that test here who are the way how are you? You can just ask, who are the type of people that. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. So we're the type of people that do the testing here. Good question. Yeah.

Yes. Okay. Oh, no. You get, you know, bring it up. Oh.

Did I move that up. Oh okay. All right. So who are the type of people that do the testing here? Yeah.

So we've had, a couple different types of people. We're still in the process of getting the training ready, but we would like to have it ready for crew. So the astronauts that will be going on the Artemis missions. But another group of people that we have come in here and test their procedures are the flight controllers. So those are the people that are in mission control at their desks, at their consoles.

They like to come in and have other people be in the headsets. They'll be their astronauts, and then they get to test. You know, is their communication good? Do the feeds that they see, is that good? And things like that.

I a little bit of history. Just your transmitter antenna? Yes. In your pocket. Right?

Yes. We want to make sure we'll do a little bit with the history of this site into that question, and then we'll go over it. Okay. Yeah, we'll do the little like the old or long actually. Listen, at the end for us.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Cool. All right.

So can you tell me the different types of scenarios that you do with Artemis missions? Wait, that was funny. That's funny. Well, okay. Do you do the history or, let's look at the end.

Okay. Oh, I see. Yeah. So that way we don't change the positions. Okay.

So can you tell me a little bit about the. Oh, sorry. Can you tell me a little bit about the bots? If I can just ask, can you tell me a little bit about, like, what type of, you know, scenarios. Scenarios or.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Can you tell me a little bit about the scenarios that the Artemis missions use? Sorry.

I'm sorry. Okay. Me just one of the questions like, how does the support Artemis missions? Perfect. Because you already said that.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. How does it support the Artemis missions? So the pit supports the Artemis missions by giving us different environments in which we can have people traverse.

So a really good example is, a situation where maybe the sun is occluded by, far off mountain range, but maybe the Earth isn't. A little fun fact, but the earth, when the Earth is fully illuminated in the sky, it is 40 times brighter than moonlight is on the earth. So that's a really interesting lighting condition where you can see more of the features, see, into the craters and things like that. Another situation is where there's no illumination. So if you're at the bottom of a very deep crater, you would have these situations where we need to test and make sure.

Can the lights accurately show all of the hazards in the way? Can the lights show the potential science? Because that's ultimately the goal is, can we effectively do this science? And how can we do it as effectively as possible? How does it help with human exploration?

So the pit helps with human exploration by, giving us this sandbox in which we can, do everything that we as much as we possibly can to practice before we actually go to the lunar surface. So going to the, you know, lunar surface, doing the science, that's, that's a lot. There's a lot of stuff to do there. And so it helps if we have as many tools as we can, to practice and make sure that we get all the procedures right. All of the different steps for doing our science.

Right. Yeah. We have many different mock ups at NASA, and this is one of them. This is one of our analogs for training. For these scenarios.

How did you develop these VR scenarios? Yeah. So we developed these VR scenarios, with Unreal Engine five. We used to use unity, but because of the lighting conditions that I mentioned earlier, Unreal Engine five has a lot of great tools for us to use to kind of show a more realistic version of this lighting. And so the more realistic we can make it, the better it'll be when the crew finally gets to the lunar surface.

And what they see will hopefully be something that they've seen before. Any other questions like, we want to do because you were talking about, like the background. Did you talk a little bit about how you guys got this imagery? LRO. We could talk about that.

Yeah. Yeah. So what are we seeing? Yeah. How do you suggest?

Just remember capability. Yeah. Sorry. This is jumping. Yeah.

So I'm going to actually ask. Hey, anybody in the pit? Can you come help real quick? If there's somebody is wrestling around the troops? Well, a lot of this is going to be B-roll like I'm going to it.

Just. What are the. We just need someone to hold everyone's headset so that it's not flashing in and out. I know you'd probably come around. You might be.

Yeah, if you come around. Yeah. They're going to send me B-roll and things of people actually recording it. So that's why I'm not too concerned if we have, like, a glitch in the background. Well, it's just.

Yeah, if it's going into that, we have. So it's all we need is just somebody to hold that. And just because the tracking is messed up. Did you make it? Yeah.

So it's like overlay it. Yeah. Yeah. That all right. You want to just hold it so that it, We'll be able to go to the, All right.

Just so you guys know, I'm rolling the whole time. So we have that slate is I. Yeah, that's the last slide at the end. Okay. So the.

Yeah. So okay. Okay. Yeah. So like we call it the terrain if you want to like oh how did you get the terrain.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Oh okay. So how did you get the terrain.

So the terrain that you're seeing is a mixture of a couple different elements. So we have, LRO data. That's the real data that a orbiting satellite took of the moon's surface. And what we did is, put on top of that a lot a higher resolution data. Now, that's technically fake data, but it was created by NASA scientists, with different mathematical models to create crater distributions that you're saying put rocks in the right places.

And this is all actually comes from Apollo data. So it has its basis on what we already know from the moon. Can you tell me a little bit what the test subjects and the crewmembers do during a scenario? Yeah. So a lot of what we do is traverses.

So we're really just trying to see, can we get from point A to point B and this might be two ish kilometers, which I think translates to one and like a quarter miles. But so they're going to walk a really long distance and they're going to use different things, ages, map books. And they're going to see, hey, does this crater on this map look like it looks like it lines up with the crater that I'm seeing in real life? And so what's really interesting about that is that depending on the day, the crater looks completely different. So we have these really interesting conditions where your lighting is going to look different.

Your terrain looks completely different depending on if the sun is over here or if the sun is over here. Can you tell me a little bit about the history and how the lab was developed? Yeah. So the pit lab is actually a offshoot from the VR lab, and so the our lab is still down the hall, it's still in operation, and it is supporting, station operations. So it still supports the International Space Station.

And we do a lot of different trainings there for EVAs or robotics. And so one of the most interesting things that we do there is the Safer training. Safer stands for simplified aid for Eva rescue. And that is essentially the jetpack, that they put on for their spacesuits. So when they do a spacewalk, if they were to accidentally get untangled, and float away, they pull out a hand controller, turn on their jetpack, and they fly back.

There's not really a good way to train for that. So we do that in VR at the VR lab. And we've done many, other different missions that we've supported over the years. Okay, cool. I was just thinking, like, how would this technology further like, even experience, right?

Or even just, like testing an animal, like, why? What's so, like, amazing about VR? Yeah. I just forgot. We just say, like, oh, how is it?

How would you be like, better testing, but, like, what? How's this? How does your training help the future of you? How does, I guess, how does it compare to, like, other training? Right.

Yeah. How does VR is gaining further human exploration and testing? And immersion, which is. So how does VR training help with human exploration and furthering human exploration? No.

You know what we can do? We do need some questions for, like, back the fact. Yeah. We want to. Do you know, any other questions you ask before?

Well, yeah. Let me just ask. Yeah. Let me ask. How does VR training help with furthering human exploration?

That's good. Okay. Perfect. Okay. How does he.

Okay. How does VR training help with furthering human exploration? Right. So, to compare it to other training methods that we've been using here at NASA, for example, you have the NBL, the big pool where the crew can train their EVAs. And, this is kind of the next step for that, which is to, so you can't really see the lunar surface.

And that might be the most important part of these missions. This is where we can see, like, these environments instead of, just practicing on, analogs that aren't as accurate to the real thing. Can you talk a little bit about any future technologies you're developing? Yeah. So a lot of what we're doing is, lunar.

So it's for the lunar missions for Artemis, but we would like to use this for Mars missions in the future and potentially even develop, training that can be take taken on the space station. So if, whatever craft you're in, if you might be on there for a while, it would be nice to have training come with you. And that's something that we can do. We can make, programs that go on, the headsets that go on the spaceships and the crew can train while they're on their mission. Cool.

Let's ask, what kind of feedback do you get from the crew? What do you do with that analysis? Okay. Yes. Okay.

So what kind of feedback do you get back from the crew and some of the analysis? And what do you do with, you know, what do you do with analysis? Okay. Yeah. So what kind of feedback do you get from the crew.

And how do you test that analysis that they give you? So when we have people come in to train and they tell us of different things that they want to see, that's something that we would put on our requirements list. And then we go and try and develop that. We find ways to implement that. Since it's not real life, we do have to find tricks sometimes.

So we have to find ways to make the lighting do what we want it to, even though it's not really the sun that you're looking at. We've even had situations where, we've had Apollo astronauts, come in, such as Charlie Duke and a Jack Schmidt. And they got to actually try this, and they gave us a really good insight for what the lunar surface should look like. What the rocks should look like, what the shadows should look like. And that helped us improve our simulation.

That a little bit as well. That was. Yeah. Wow. That must have been exciting having Charlie Do and Jack Schmitt come here.

And, you know, they actually walk in the moon, so that must be really cool. Yeah, it was really exciting to get to give them that opportunity to, see what we've been making and give them the opportunity to see the progress that NASA has been making. To go back to where they got to go in the first place. I think that's everything you want to talk about the history? Yes.

Yeah. So we can bring both of them. So we could do a funny little bit where I talk about like. Oh, yeah, you know, this is our old hardware, you know, big and heavy. And I'm like, here, hold this.

And be like, yeah, yeah, that's actually good. Okay. They find the best way to hold this. Okay. So can you talk a little bit about the history of the pit?

Yeah. So, the VR lab, that is the, which is the pit is an offshoot of, started in the 90s. And so it was supporting Hubble missions with the space shuttle. And so some of the engineers came up with these guys, which, are really antiquated headsets. So they're big, they're bulky, and, they were very, very hard to work with.

So if you could, hold this for me. Oh, it's actually heavier than what I thought. This is really old and different. And there's a lot of wires attached to it. Yes.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, we can do that of, like the door, right? Yeah. I can hold, like, these two boxes. I have no idea what these two is.

Okay. I can take that out. What is that? So I think those are cathode ray tube. I just put it like this.

So. Yeah, you kind of like, put it on top like that. Yeah. Oh, okay. Well, there's nothing on, obviously, but no, I don't think these have been on for a while.

Oh, yeah. I feel like I don't know, but the astronauts used to train on these. And then we have another system that actually went on orbit with them, and it was a big 3D printed trapezoidal piece that would go on the laptop. And so we have pictures of them, putting this big bulky laptop on their head, but it doesn't weigh anything since it's in microgravity. But it it looks very silly.

I think I've seen that photo try on again. Yeah. Try it on. Okay. I was gonna say I feel like an alien, but I was like, I don't.

I stopped myself. No, because, you know. Okay, wait. Let me. Okay.

It's, like, heavy and bulky on my head, and I don't see anything cause obviously thing. But, yeah, I feel like a robot. Am I allowed to see that? I don't know, but. Cool.

Yep. I like that. It looks like an alien. Okay, I switch you. Oh.

I remember how you talk. So I don't think you were in this conversation. He's actually a rocket scientist, and he had a. Oh, that's so. Yes.

I was trying to say. How did you get into this? Yeah. So, Stargate start back. Yeah.

We didn't go to that part. Okay. My passion was. I'm so, so. Yeah.

Yeah. That was there's, like. How did you get into. So did you envision yourself? Is this what you envisioned yourself when you were a kid?

When you're. Where'd you go? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. So did you envision yourself? Envision yourself? Oh, I'd say. Did you always.

Yeah. Did you always want to work at NASA? And did you think you were ever going to be working in the pit lab? No, I actually, you know, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a paleontologist. But when I got to college, I ended up doing, aerospace.

And so that started me off in planes. And then I kind of shifted into rockets. But then what eventually caught my attention was VR and training and getting to visualize these really, really cool space environments in a VR headset. It was very immersive, and so I had a lot of fun doing that. So much fun to where I had no formal training in computer science, but I kind of ended up with that training just by working on it.

With labs, with clubs at school. And then eventually I got the job here at Johnson Space Center. Awesome. Cool. I kind of want to talk a little bit about the new and the old.

So compare and contrast. So in that, though, I want you to do a sound bite test. Yeah, I'd say so. You are a rocket science, doctor. Rocket science or something.

Yeah. So okay. And so Josh Richardson, who's. Yeah, I kind of want to talk a little bit about. Yeah, I guess that was the other part is like, okay, we did this.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So this is the old headset. Yes, the newer headset. Can you talk a little bit about this headset and kind of the differences?

Yes. So the biggest thing is that the resolution inside is going to be a lot better. The frame rate is going to be a lot better, with these old things. It was a lot easier to get sick, because there's a lot of stuttering as you look around. So these are a lot, a lot more, tuned for that.

They have cameras that kind of help with the tracking. So the tracking is a lot better. And also, as you can probably feel that headsets a lot lighter, a lot easier on the neck. So, yeah, people people tend to like these a lot. Awesome.

After what happened since. Oh, yeah. Wow, that was great. Okay. Oh, yeah.

It's awesome. And then we just to keep ahead for time, we need to jump in. Okay? Yeah. Yep.

Okay. Wow, that was fun. Yeah. Glad you liked it. Hope you had fun on the moon.

Let me try this headset. Yeah. Fun. I had a fun time walking on the moon. Yeah, absolutely.

Oh, you want him to hold on? Oh, sorry. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Like.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, now we can do this fun. Wow.

Wow. That was really fun. Oh, no. You guys. Wow.

That was really fun. Thanks for letting me try the headset. Yeah, absolutely. Glad you got to, experience the moon. I got to walk on the moon today, so.

Yay! All right. Is that everything okay? I loved it. Thanks for letting me try the VR headset and let me get a chance to welcome them today.

All right. Yeah, absolutely. I'm glad you got to experience the moon in our simulation. Thanks. Fun.

Okay. Okay. Shout out you really on rocket science? Okay, cool. We're going to break the up.

Do you want to say a one liner? Oh, okay. So while you can do. Oh, sorry, I didn't realize I walked away. Wow.

So you really are a rocket scientist? Yeah, I am. Okay, good. I learned sleep. Oh, losing sleep.

Okay. Okay, cool. So, turn around. Wow, that's so cool. kind of have to planet and hold it, but I can.

All right. Perfect. Hey, I'm here at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Building 16. And I wonder what's behind this door. Hello.

Hi. So, can you tell me your name, your title, and a little bit about what you do? Yeah. So my name is Billy Young. I am a simulation software engineer here in the prototype Immersive Technologies lab, or Pit for short.

So that's what we're in right now. We are in the pit of the pit. And what we do here is make simulations in virtual reality or VR, that we can train people in. We can put people in space environments and get them an immersive experience, that helps them, train for the missions that they're going to be going on. a lot of what we do has to do with Artemis.

So we are taking the lunar surface on the south pole, which is where NASA wants to land, for those missions. And we are going to simulate the lighting conditions, especially so on the South Pole. The sun is the aircraft is going to be at a very, incident angle. So it's going to be very close off the horizon. It's going to create these big long shadows.

These really, really bright patches of lunar regolith. And, that's what we need to see. How do we get from point A to B? From point A to point B on? The lunar surface?

the VR lab, started in the 90s. And so it was supporting Hubble missions with the space shuttle. And so some of the engineers came up with these guys, which, are really antiquated headsets. So they're big, they're bulky, So this is the old headset. Yeah.

So this is the newer headset. Can you talk a little bit about this headset So the biggest thing is that the resolution inside is going to be a lot better. The frame rate is going to be a lot better. With these old things. They have cameras that kind of help with the tracking.

So the tracking is a lot better. And also, as you can probably feel that headsets a lot lighter, a lot easier on the neck. So, yeah, people people tend to like these a lot. So, can I try a scenario? Let's get you set up.

Right. Okay. All right. Got the So when we land on the moon, what's like the first step? The first step is going to be to take a step, to take a step on the moon.

I think it's going to be to really kind of get down to the surface and kind of assess the immediate terrain. And then, I think from there, you know, you're going to have your crew, you're going to have your flight controllers, and they're going to be planning their, EVAs from there. Is that a sign? That is the sun. So we have, So.

Yeah. Yeah. If you put your hand up, you can block it. If you get behind a crater or anything, that will also block the sunlight. So, yeah, here we are on the lunar surface.

So Oh, that's cool bro. Yeah. So we have, the tools as we have some of the tools on on the swing arm for the xemu suit. On the right, you have sample markers, we have the camera as well. if you point it somewhere you can actually take a picture.

Oh, here I'm smiling right now. So so normally what you would do here is you would put that down next to a rocket, like take a picture of it and then dig up the rock, put it in your sample bag and then pick the sky back up. Oh no. There you go. it is to lose.

Lose stuff. You are. You are a little bit. That's because, like, I can't see how deep it is. Right.

And see, this is. This isn't even that big of a crater. It's maybe like a meter two meters across, like. But you cannot tell how deep that is. That could be 1000ft deep.

That could be two inches deep. teach you this on the fly. We're about to make it really dark. We. Yeah.

So we're we're about to simulate. We're out and the rocks we have are actually Apollo rocks. So these were scanned in, and we got the textures from those. if you take your right hand and put it up you press the trigger, you'll turn your lights on. I see the crater.

And so we're during the day. Oh. like, let's say we're at the bottom of Shackleton Crater. Yeah. We could use our lights and we can see a lot better, but we can only see within, you know, this limited range.

But, yeah, there are two very big vehicles. This one. Oh, yeah. If you throw it, though, you will not find it. See if I threw it.

Oh. Oh, and it's gone right here. I'm going to. I'm going to toss you a rock. There is an LTV.

We can use that. And that actually helps a lot with, the lighting. Cool car. Yes. So we have the two card in here.

We have used that, All right, the sun's back up. Welcome back. Oh, I was right in front of that. So what we're looking at right here is the NASA reference habitat. And then to your right here that is the lander.

Yeah. But then yeah, we have the tool card here, which if you use both hands, like a shopping cart, you can ride it around. Okay, maybe don't put that. If I walk Prince. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. So we we do have it. That's that's actually a really interesting part of these traverses, because we'll have people go out two kilometers and then we'll say, all right, time to go back to the lander. And we've done tests where we've pre-made tracks to try and trick them to see if they can tell which, which set of tracks is theirs or not. But look at the long shot.

Yeah. So you're like, how long shot? Oh, yeah. Yeah. And the taller the thing is, like, you can see these habitats are going on for miles and miles down, down the, landscape.

Yeah, just like my legs. on the moon, we're not going to have G. P. S. , for the first couple Artemus missions.

So that's one thing that we test here is, you know, hey, our shadows are pointed one direction. Can we kind of use that as a compass? so we can maybe say, okay, I look out and I see that mountain. I recognize that mountain. So we'll say that's that's west.

The sun is north. So we kind of have to make our own really rudimentary traversal system, for knowing where we are and knowing how we're going to get back if we want to go anywhere. I see how this could be a really cool training tool for astronauts before they go on the moon to, like, really see what it's going to be like. Yeah. So a lot of what we're doing is, lunar, so it's for the lunar missions for Artemis, but we would like to use this for Mars missions in the future and potentially even develop, training that can be take taken on the space station.

So if, whatever craft you're in, if you might be on there for a while, it would be nice to have training come with you. And that's something that we can do. We can make, programs that go on, the headsets that go on the spaceships, and the crew can train while they're on their mission. turn around. Wow, that's so cool.

you. I'm going to toss you this rock here. Go on. All right. Oh, a little too long.

It's really, really easy to go a little too high. And moon gravity. Let me try that one more time. So. All right.

Yes. We the Earth. Oh, How does VR training help with furthering human exploration? Right. So, to compare it to other training methods that we've been using here at NASA.

For example, you have the NBL, the big pool where the crew can train their EVAs. And, this is kind of the next step for that, which is to, so you can't really see the lunar surface. And that might be the most important part of these missions. This is where we can see, like, these environments instead of, just practicing on, analogs that aren't as accurate to the real thing. Wow.

We could play golf on the moon. Yeah. So back in the Apollo days, Alan Shepard actually got to bring a golf club and some golf balls and he played golf on the moon, so we tried to recreate that, in our simulation as well. extension tool, you may have to be attached to that. Okay.

Something like that. Okay. So I see you're in a soup. What times. What type of scissors model that.

So this is, modeled after the NASA xemu suit. This is the suit that NASA wants to use for going on the surface of the moon. It is a lot like the current emu suit, which is used for, the spacewalks that they do on the space station. But those suits don't need to walk on solid ground. So they've had to change a couple of things.

Add room for tools in different places and just make it a little bit better for the lunar surface as opposed to microgravity. It's a little tricky, but we'll see if we can get you to do that. So, you got to grab the handrails. So I'm going to grab this handrail, and I'm going to grab this handrail. Let me see.

I got a step back. Yeah. So I'll let you try it. No. Oh.

Oh, it does kind of teleport you up. There you go. You're getting there. Holding. No.

No. Yeah. Okay. I mean, yeah, look at you. It's.

Wow. You're right off the habitat. Airlock. I'll take a picture. All right.

Perfect. That's a nice view. I didn't realize you're like mountains in terms. Yeah. So the region that we are currently on is actually one big ridge that goes towards Shackleton Crater, which is actually, that way that you're looking right now, and I'm, I'm pointing to, but because it's, it's on this big ridge, we're at a high elevation point.

And so, yeah, we can see the surrounding far terrain, the other mountains, the, the ridges and craters. look at the long shot. Yeah. So you're like, how long shot? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And the taller the thing is, like, you can see these habitats are going on for miles and miles down, down the, landscape. So you also mention that so there's no atmosphere on the roads that you can follow your tracks. Oh yeah. Yeah.

So, as you can see on the ground, we have all of our tracks being placed on, the surface of our terrain. So that means if we were to go out somewhere, we could follow these tracks back, and it would be a really good way to help us know where we are. Oh, Okay. So, can I try a scenario? Let's get you set up.

Right. Okay. All right. Got the set on you guys. Oh, so you might have to take a step back.

Is that a sign? That is the sun. So we have, So. Yeah. Yeah.

If you put your hand up, you can block it. If you get behind a crater or anything, that will also block the sunlight. So, yeah, here we are on the lunar surface. So this guy behind you. Hey, I can see you.

Do I? Oh, that's cool bro. Yeah. So we have, the tools as we have some of the tools on on the swing arm for the xemu suit. On the right, you have sample markers, which, if you pull the trigger, you can pull that up.

Place those the. So. Yeah. You we have the camera as well. You can actually take pictures with those.

So if you grab it Yeah. Wow. This is so great. Thank you so much. Yeah.

Yeah. You're welcome. Is, awesome to get to show this to you. All right. Okay.

All righty. So how are we bumping up against our time deadline? Josh has to be somewhere. Okay. I like you guys.

I can take that for you. But we can do that with Charles, right? Sweating. Oh. You're fine.

I to redo some of that, and makeup probably fell off. Oh, no. That happens all the time. It's fine, but. Let's go.

We should have done the four. It's okay. So I thought y'all's chemistry developed as y'all were doing. You'll be able to see it. Cool.

Yeah. So that's a that's a sample marker. So if you find you can. Yeah. So you just point it somewhere.

Let go the trigger and there it goes. Oh, I found a rock. And then I can just place it right here. Yep. Take a photo.

So white from the shadows. Make it really hard to see. I can see why shadows are a big problem. Okay, so photo. Yeah.

And I think there are, there might be. I think if Eddie or Ben are around, they can are around, they can usable rakes or rocks, or a golf club in front of us. We can play golf. We can play golf on the moon. Wow.

is, five iron, and I think the. Oh, no, it flew away. Oh. There's more. It's okay.

Oh, I hit something. What did they hit? All right. You've been practicing your game. I used to play baseball.

Oh. Yep. All right. I missed I missed you. Let me just in this.

Okay. It is really hard. You have to go smooth like that. Hit it into the sun. I'm never going to find that.

Oh, you can hit me. Hold on. Oh, you got it. That Wow. We can play golf on the moon.

Yep. Got the set on you guys. Oh, so you might have to take a step back. Oh. Yep.

Oh, my gosh, I'm in darkness. I've got your hands out for you. Yep. Okay, then I'll get the other headset so I can get in there, too. I see something that says stream like.

So I'm going to press a button for you. You're totally fine. Actually, I press this button. Did that make it go away? No, I still see you.

Okay. Oh! My hands! Snafu, I'm going to have to go in there. Okay, so I'm going to have to, I think go in and restart it real quick.

So I press something. No you didn't. This is normal. Unfortunately. I get the controller from.

Yeah. Yeah. No, it's. We understand this. Okay.

It is. Actually, it is fine now. Okay. So, no, this is this happens all the time during training to and will be spend an hour getting ready. Getting set up.

First person gets in the headset, they're ready to go, and it crashes. So. Yeah. So you see it now? Yeah.

Okay. Okay. All right. I've got your hands. Where you.

I'm going to get in my headset, but his hands are like. Yeah, I did on those. Thank you. So that. Yeah, that is me actually.

And I'm going to. Is that a sign? That is the sun. So we have, So. Yeah.

Yeah. If you put your hand up, you can block it. If you get behind a crater or anything, that will also block the sunlight. So, yeah, here we are on the lunar surface. So this guy behind you.

Hey, I can see you. Do I? Oh, that's cool bro. Yeah. So we have, the tools as we have some of the tools on on the swing arm for the xemu suit.

On the right, you have sample markers, which, if you pull the trigger, you can pull that up. Place those the. So. Yeah. You we have the camera as well.

You can actually take pictures with those. So if you grab it with weird. So yeah you can reposition it if you go between hands. But, if you point it somewhere and then you press the grip button, which is where your middle finger is, you can actually take a picture. Oh, and then here I'm smiling right now.

You'll be able to see it. Cool. That's right. Yeah. So that's a that's a sample marker.

So if you find you can. Yeah. So you just point it somewhere. Let go the trigger and there it goes. So so normally what you would do here is you would put that down next to a rocket, like take a picture of it and then dig up the rock, put it in your sample bag and then pick the sky back up.

Oh no. There you go. There's a wall. So. Oh, I found a rock.

And then I can just place it right here. Yep. Take a photo. So white from the shadows. Make it really hard to see.

I can see why shadows are a big problem. Okay, so photo. But how do I to go in to take a photo? So it's the middle finger button. You feel, like the the other side of the controller and you should see a red lobe.

I took the photo. Yeah. Okay. But. Yeah.

And so then we could pick up. Yeah. You do have to, like, physically kneel down. Am I allowed to go through this wall a little bit? Well, we're assuming that everybody else is.

I see, like a red. I just want the rock. Let me know a little closer. I can't see nice. Oh, okay.

Okay. I see my thumb through. Okay. So I can just. I got it.

Okay. Oh, here's a rock. Yeah. Yeah. Can I throw it?

You can throw it. And it will have moon gravity. Oh, that's. That's gone. I know.

It's. You threw it into the shadow. I don't know, I can't see it. Yep. It's, It's gone.

It's that easy. That's that's how easy it is to lose. Lose stuff. You are. You are a little bit.

That's because, like, I can't see how deep it is. Right. And see, this is. This isn't even that big of a crater. It's maybe like a meter two meters across, like.

But you cannot tell how deep that is. That could be 1000ft deep. That could be two inches deep. It's like my worst thing. Okay.

But. Yeah. And so, I guess, Eddie, if you want to turn it tonight and turn our lights on. So actually, I'll. I'll teach you this on the fly.

We're about to make it really dark. We. Yeah. So we're we're about to simulate. We're out and the rocks we have are actually Apollo rocks.

So these were scanned in, and we got the textures from those. But. Yeah. So. Okay, I'm going to help you out here.

Let's see over with your right hand. Oh, if you take your right hand and put it up kind of above your head, you'll feel it vibrate. Yeah. If you press the trigger, you'll turn your lights on. Let's see.

Can I do it for you? The index finger trigger. Oh, yeah. So I see the crater. Yeah.

So this is kind of like running a school. It's sort of a wall. Okay. Well, it's not that, but, like. And so we're during the day.

Oh. Yeah. So what's kind of nice about these conditions is when you do have, like, let's say we're at the bottom of Shackleton Crater. Yeah. We could use our lights and we can see a lot better, but we can only see within, you know, this limited range.

Yeah. See there. And then they jump out and scare me like, oh, there you are. I'm still here. Yeah.

But, yeah, there are two very big vehicles. This one. Oh, yeah. If you throw it, though, you will not find it. See if I threw it.

Oh. Oh, and it's gone right here. I'm going to. I'm going to toss you a rock. There is an LTV.

We can use that. And that actually helps a lot with, the lighting. But we don't have it right now. They might turn it on for us if they're listening. And you try.

So we go. I see, I hear you. I'm going to toss you this rock here. Go on. All right.

Oh, a little too long. It's really, really easy to go a little too high. And moon gravity. Let me try that one more time. So.

All right. Yes. We the Earth. Oh, oh. Very soft.

Got it. All right. Yep. Go! Oh!

Oh, no. It kind of just fell out of your hands. But I guess if we want to turn the sun back on. One nice thing. Cool car.

Yes. So we have the two card in here. We have used that, All right, the sun's back up. Welcome back. Oh, I was right in front of that.

So what we're looking at right here is the NASA reference habitat. And then to your right here that is the lander. Yeah. But then yeah, we have the tool card here, which if you use both hands, like a shopping cart, you can ride it around. And let's say I want to take some tools.

I get the easel out, take it where I want to use it, and then just drop it on the ground. Oh. And. Yeah. There you go.

So, Yeah, we've used these in some of our tests. We'll push this from point A to point B and see how the the crew likes it. What kind of things they want. Maybe if they want to put the map on the, stand there. Oh, it's hard to see.

Here we go. It is? Yeah. Have to be the right angles, so. Yeah.

Like, take a tool. You can take the tools off it. So for the test set, we use this for they did not require us to make the tools usable. So we didn't just to save on a little bit of work there. This tool, what is this called again?

So that's a sample marker. Yes. Yep. Why? Yep.

The difference in the sample. Yeah. And I think there are, there might be. I think if Eddie or Ben are around, they can usable rakes or rocks, or a golf club in front of us. We can play golf.

We can play golf on the moon. Wow. Just need a sector, golf club. Oh, yeah. There's a golf club.

I'll take the. Oh. Let's see, this is, five iron, and I think the. Oh, no, it flew away. Oh.

There's more. It's okay. Oh, I hit something. What did they hit? All right.

You've been practicing your game. I used to play baseball. Oh. Oh, that's basically the same thing. Okay.

We'll do that. Things tend to do that on the moon. I'm having issues with it. You can? Yeah.

If you need to reposition it, try using both hands to kind of angle it the right way. Is this like my fourth golf club? I'm on. I can't even hold it. Okay.

And so I was a lot. So take your other hand and put it, like, somewhere else on the, shaft of it, and then, yeah, you could twist it and then put it back in the other hand. Yeah. Where's the golf club? Let's see.

There should be. They might have to spawn more, golf balls for us. There's no. Oh, I think the old TV's supposed to be here. Oh, yeah.

Wait, I. I think Jack Schmitt did. And so that's who we made this for. Oh. I didn't get it.

Wait. Oh, I have a golf ball. Wow. Is that the. Oh.

It's supposed to be. Oh, yeah. Yeah. There it is. So the seeds of it.

Yeah. There's supposed to be more. Okay. Okay, so do you have your golf ball? I have mine.

All right. Okay. Got you one. Yeah. Yep.

All right. I missed I missed you. Let me just in this. Okay. It is really hard.

You have to go smooth like that. Hit it into the sun. I'm never going to find that. Oh, you can hit me. Hold on.

Oh, you got it. That was. That was a great, It's in the rough, unfortunately, but it's gone. But. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, you can take it. You hear my voice? Yeah. This one.

Play while we can play golf. Okay. Actually, we need to do a quick fact check. I thought it was young, John Young, you know, he was. It was it really?

I think that's right. I was if they might, I think they might have both done it. And Jack Smith did it last because he was Apollo 17. He was 17. Yeah, I know because because that's the thing is, I know we made it for him.

Oh, because it just this way. I was just talking about my horse. So we kind of want to know. About what? What was the secret?

Okay. Okay. Before you do that. Yeah, sure. Okay.

So, wow. We can play golf. Okay. Wow. We can play golf on the moon.

Yep. How's that? Perfect. Now. Okay.

All right. Alan Shepard was the only one who played golf on Alan Shepard. So I don't. Okay, maybe don't put that. If I walk Prince.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we we do have it. That's that's actually a really interesting part of these traverses, because we'll have people go out two kilometers and then we'll say, all right, time to go back to the lander. And we've done tests where we've pre-made tracks to try and trick them to see if they can tell which, which set of tracks is theirs or not.

And so that's that's been a lot of fun. So when we land on the moon, what's like the first step? The first step is going to be to take a step, to take a step on the moon. I think it's going to be to really kind of get down to the surface and kind of assess the immediate terrain. And then, I think from there, you know, you're going to have your crew, you're going to have your flight controllers, and they're going to be planning their, EVAs from there.

So their extravehicular activity, their EVAs from their. But yeah. Can we go back and just ask the question again, like, wow, we can play golf on the moon. Yeah. And then you're going to say, yeah, that's actually Alan Shepard played golf.

Apollo astronaut Alan Shepard play golf when he was on the moon. And so we made this simulation for him or something like that. Yeah. Okay. I could do that.

Wow. We could play golf on the moon. Yeah. So back in the Apollo days, Alan Shepard actually got to bring a golf club and some golf balls and he played golf on the moon, so we tried to recreate that, in our simulation as well. Cool.

All right. Go on. Wow. Oh, I think you hit the solar panel. Did I oh, oh, there goes my rifle.

Oh. You know, he actually did a golf club. So anyway, you know, he did. You did it with one hand. Oh, looks like one thing.

I'm reading a CNN article, because if you use the golf club from an extension tool, you may have to be attached to that. Okay. Something like that. Okay. So I see you're in a soup.

What times. What type of scissors model that. So this is, modeled after the NASA xemu suit. This is the suit that NASA wants to use for going on the surface of the moon. It is a lot like the current emu suit, which is used for, the spacewalks that they do on the space station.

But those suits don't need to walk on solid ground. So they've had to change a couple of things. Add room for tools in different places and just make it a little bit better for the lunar surface as opposed to microgravity. Could you add to that? Would you say it has a lot more mobility?

And it's really interesting. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So the xemu suit also has a lot of extra mobility that is going to be needed for these these surface terrain, these surface exploration missions as well as, it is a, sorry.

What? It will rear entry. Okay. So the Xemu suit is actually very mobile, for these lunar terrain excursions, and it is a rear entry suit as well. Which the current emu suit is not.

What happens in a jump so you can't jump, but actually, you can climb up this, the ladder for the habitat over here. It's a little tricky, but we'll see if we can get you to do that. So, you got to grab the handrails. So I'm going to grab this handrail, and I'm going to grab this handrail. Let me see.

I got a step back. Yeah. So I'll let you try it. No. Oh.

Oh, it does kind of teleport you up. There you go. You're getting there. Holding. No.

No. Yeah. Okay. I mean, yeah, look at you. It's.

Wow. You're right off the habitat. Airlock. I'll take a picture. All right.

Perfect. That's a nice view. I didn't realize you're like mountains in terms. Yeah. So the region that we are currently on is actually one big ridge that goes towards Shackleton Crater, which is actually, that way that you're looking right now, and I'm, I'm pointing to, but because it's, it's on this big ridge, we're at a high elevation point.

And so, yeah, we can see the surrounding far terrain, the other mountains, the, the ridges and craters. Can you see the Earth? Actually, if you if you hold up your because of the sun, if you hold the. Do you see the the crescent Earth? Yeah.

That's nice. Wow. They're gonna have such a nice view. They are. They're going to have a wonderful view.

How do I get down? Well, I can show you, actually. So what if I just walk you? You can walk. Oh.

Oh, okay. So you can. I made it fling yourself like that. This is just falling off. Yeah, that's that's that's realistic.

Right? But look at the long shot. Yeah. So you're like, how long shot? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And the taller the thing is, like, you can see these habitats are going on for miles and miles down, down the, landscape. Yeah, just like my legs. And so I guess I'll ask you a question here. So if we were about to go on a traverse, what would be your preferred way for, like, knowing where you are?

How do you think you're going to tell where you are at any given time? Like, what? What's your best tool for. Yes. Okay.

So that's a that's a good point. That's what we do on Earth. But on the moon, we're not going to have G. P. S.

, for the first couple Artemus missions. So that's one thing that we test here is, you know, hey, our shadows are pointed one direction. Can we kind of use that as a compass? There's also a compass tool that I can maybe pull up. But, Yeah.

So. So we would use things like that so we can maybe say, okay, I look out and I see that mountain. I recognize that mountain. So we'll say that's that's west. The sun is north.

So we kind of have to make our own really rudimentary traversal system, for knowing where we are and knowing how we're going to get back if we want to go anywhere. So you also mention that so there's no atmosphere on the roads that you can follow your tracks. Oh yeah. Yeah. So, as you can see on the ground, we have all of our tracks being placed on, the surface of our terrain.

So that means if we were to go out somewhere, we could follow these tracks back, and it would be a really good way to help us know where we are. Oh, Okay. Where we can be in the hills. We do. So that is actually in the video wall.

That which is developed out of the pit, but. And we can't actually. So one thing that they want to do, they have a set up in the SCS for what we're doing right now. But they want to have the VR part and then they want to have the video wall part. So you could be in the video wall drive, your LTV and the LTV would be in the correct position in your VR sim.

So then once you get to a crater you like, you can step out, physically step out, get in VR. And it's like you had stepped out of the LTV on the actual lunar surface. So just maybe like, oh, that'd be a fun future episode or something and say it this way. That'd be a fun feature. Exit.

So I think we need to do it. Yeah. Okay. You guys don't don't take up in, you know, like, anything I should say? Am I missing anything?

Just maybe face this way and do a couple of, like, wow, there's some core. This is that. Just turn around. Wow, that's so cool. I maybe saying maybe say, I see how this would be a really beneficial training tool for the astronauts before they go.

Yeah. I see how this could be a really cool training tool for astronauts before they go on the moon to, like, really see what it's going to be like. Is that the fly? Yes. I can let you plant the flag.

So. Me? Oh, It's okay. You missed. It doesn't stay.

So you kind of have to planet and hold it, but I can. All right. Perfect. Hold it. I'll take a picture.

All right. That looks great. Awesome. Okay. Just keep us on track.

All right, y'all, I'm going to position you. Okay? Just like. Yeah, we'll have y'all kind of in the middle here. So I can't go below.

And, how do I do? Good. Okay. All right. Oh, yeah.

What are the pros? You know what you're saying? Like, I just know kind of a great pose with your arms over your head. Like this. It's not the same.

Yeah. That's good. All right, so before you take off your headsets, you got some tips on this. You can actually go, like. Wow, this was so great.

Thank you so much for. Yeah. Wow. This is so great. Thank you so much.

Yeah. Yeah. You're welcome. Is, awesome to get to show this to you. Can you guys find my daughter?

Yes. I five. Can you do it for real? For real? Physically?

For real. Wait. Let me see. I'm gonna land on a position. That's where it is.

Okay. Where is it? Wait, wait. I'm lining it up. I'm lining it up.

Okay. I like it. High five. High five. Okay.

We did it! Oh! All right. Okay. All righty.

So how are we bumping up against our time deadline? Josh has to be somewhere. Okay. I like you guys. I can take that for you.

But we can do that with Charles, right? Sweating. Oh. You're fine. I to redo some of that, and makeup probably fell off.

Oh, no. That happens all the time. It's fine, but. Let's go. We should have done the four.

It's okay. So I thought y'all's chemistry developed as y'all were doing.

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