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Moonscape

This project concept has changed considerably from my original concept. Right now resolution mapping of the moon isn't quite up to what I originally wanted to do (that is, recreate the moon to the extent that you can accurately walk around on it). However, the location of the moon is still intriguing, and brings with it a way to view a more familiar object: The Earth.

What I propose is sort of a reverse, or remote planetarium: In short, a way to view the sky from a vantage point on the moon. The driving narrative would be the history of the Earth as seen from the moon, from the moon's origins through the climate changes in the earth, up through skybox seats to the celestial impact c. 65 million BCE, up through the modern age.

Immersion is a key part of this project. A planetarium-like structure would be ideal, although an head-mounted display would also work pretty well. The flat, lunar landscape would be projected around the virtual horizon, with an accurate night sky above. The installation would act as a sort of almanac, the user being able to input dates to the the corresponding moon's sky. Certain events would be bookmarked, especially unique events like the dinosaur-killing meteorite. Other infrequent events, like lunar and solar eclipses, would also have to have special attention paid to them.

The player will have access to a virtual "telescope", although it will not be any more powerful than any current terrestrial telescope. Watching the earth changing from a distance is key...you probably won't be able to see your house from here. In the case of the room installation it would probably be a replica of an actual telescope, complete with eyepiece. The headmount version would end up more like a zoom function.

The interface for controlling the installation would probably be a kiosk in the center of the room (or simply a keyboard and mouse with the hmd) that essentially acts like an H.G. Wells time machine. Commands for "speed up" and "slow down" would be primary, allowing virtual days to pass in seconds (or perhaps hours), plus a bookmarking system for favorite dates and ease of travel to distant times.

If the immersion is done well, I think it will be a primary tool for engaging the user. While the factual information will (hopefully) interest the user, allowing them to spend time in a darkened room, with events happening just dynamic enough to catch the edge of perception, but not so dynamic as to be overwhelming (and hence quickly tiresome), people would stay and watch. If virtual days would pass by every few minutes (enough to catch the eye, but not enough so the sky becomes a strobe light), I think an pleasant ambient equilibrium could be maintained by default, one that the user could change if they wanted, but a preset that would kick in after a period of idleness.

The project as a whole would probably be most at home in a gallery or museum. I'm designing it with for the "museum mind-set." In essence, I hope to give users of the installation a new perspective, both in terms of scale, celestial motion (the "dark side" isn't any more dark than the face we see, for instance), and perhaps a way to better estimate how big (or small) the Earth really is.