I worked on the Greater Heights VR Experience project at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in the Simulation Department during the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 internship cycles. My primary contributions to this project are implementing a motion base, sound design and sound behavior programming, simplified aircraft physics programming, and designing and implementing VR controls, autopilot, and VR UI elements.
The main objective of this project is outreach for all ages, targeting those interested in learning about what NASA does. The project leverages the tools and knowledge of the Simulation Department, but also seeks a balance between realism and spectacle. This is not a simulation, due to the physics being less granular and the inclusion of elements like sound, a motion base that rotates about the x and z axis, and a cockpit that can be controlled with VR controllers.
The project is consistently demoed internally with new and returning subjects of different body types, VR experience levels, and varying backgrounds to further polish and adjust the experience. Some of these subjects include multiple NASA test pilots and Kate Flannery who played Meredith from the Office! We demoed it to the public in early April at IMS during the Total Eclipse Event. The response from the public was even better than expected, and the most stressful part of the day was dealing with some technical difficulties while a massive line of people waited to demo the project. This was great practice for our upcoming demo at Oshkosh this summer