New Dimension for JPL:

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory will become the first customer for a new software system that allows people in several locations to collaborate in real-time over a virtual reality network.

The Continuum software, developed by Muse Technologies of Albuquerque, will be used to help engineers at the NASA lab in Pasadena design a next-generation Mars lander that will operate far more precisely than the Pathfinder craft that touched down on the red planet last month. Continuum will link engineers at JPL with NASA colleagues at Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

JPL and Muse Technologies will announce the deal on Tuesday at the Siggraph ’97 conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

NASA’s research centers already make use of virtual reality markup language, or VRML, to collaborate on design projects on an intranet. But the Continuum technology greatly enhances the collaborative experience, said John Peterson, manager of integrated design systems for JPL.

“This advances all the right stuff,” Peterson said. “We can really simulate our missions with even higher fidelity.” For example, a digital model of a spacecraft could change color when it gets hotter, allowing engineers to test its heat-absorbing capabilities, he said.

Continuum immerses users in a 3-D environment without requiring a bulky head-mounted display or gloves. Instead, the system uses a head-tracking device and sound features to create a feeling of virtual reality.

Continuum could “really radically change the design process,” Peterson said. “We may be investing in this type of approach [NASA-wide] for the long term.”