The Mars 2030 VR experience takes all the stakes out of a Mars mission
I’m standing on a high peak, surrounded by red Martian rocks, when the sand storm approaches. I see it in the distance. It bubbles up in the atmosphere, its menacing clouds coming closer and closer. When the red wind finally hits, it’s underwhelming. There aren’t any gusts against my body, no flecks of dirt against my helmet, no adrenaline running through my veins. All I can feel is the queasiness that comes with spending a half-hour using a VR headset.
This is Mars 2030, a VR experience of the Red Planet produced by Fusion Media Group in partnership with NASA and MIT’s AeroAstro Lab. (Fusion Media Group is a competitor of Vox Media, The Verge‘s parent company.) Mars 2030 allows you to wander around 15 square miles of…
