Welcome to T.I.M.E.
a virtual reality, lunar habitation exploration experience
The TIME Facility is a virtual reality experience where users interact with a holographic interface and visit lunar exploration concept sites.
This project was an entry to NSSA Space Jam 2024 and was completed over 30 days during my NASA internship. It is a personal work not affiliated with NASA.
The goal of this project was to design an experience with research-grounded designs but speculative, future-concept aesthetics while fulfilling the game jam requirements.
"Dive into Space Jam, inspired by the ambitious Artemis missions with a goal of returning humans to the moon and establishing a sustainable presence. This competition, in collaboration with VRChat and the National Space Society of Australia (NSSA), invites creators to envision the future of lunar exploration and habitation through immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences."
Ongoing NASA projects and NASA colleagues were a technical basis for this project. The goal was to create a future concept grounded in reality by emerging technologies.
Aesthetically, both real-world and science fiction concepts were referenced.
Inspiration was taken from NASA Human Research Program (HRP), science fiction media in pop culture, and hard surface concept modeling. The target aesthetic incorporates plant life and can be described as international functionalism.
International Orange (#FF4F00), a universal, high-contrast color used in aerospace, is used as an accent color.
Initial designs explored a semi-permanent and permanent lunar habitation concepts, incorporating publicly available NASA research on in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and radiation countermeasures.
The final concept enables users to visit several "sites" that explore habitation, energy production, and cultural development concepts.
Building the experience for virtual reality (VR) engages the user and enables an immersive, interactive experience.
VR is currently used by NASA:
At outreach events to showcase ongoing projects to the public
In labs at Glenn, Johnson, and JPL
For engineering workflows at GSFC
For extra-vehicular activity (EVA), aircraft, safety, and other training purposes
Models were created in Blender at accurate scale using architectural modeling techniques.
Their materiality was designed using Adobe Substance 3D Painter. Materials were created as trimsheets, allowing elements to be reused, creating visual harmony, improving efficiency, and ensuring an optimized experience.
Semi-permanent lunar trailer concept.
Progress on a lunar-regolith bunker habitat.
Surface fission reactor inspired by KRUSTY.
All created assets were synthesized and functionality was added in Unity.
Assets were imported, materials were assigned, and colliders were established. Environment scale and collision accuracy was verified in VR.
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Functionality was added using Udon (a scripting language similar to C#). This includes door behavior, interactable objects, and the UI logic.
Details such as props, plant life, signage, post-processing, and particles were added. Lighting and reflections were baked at this time.
Users navigate concepts with a holographic timeline interface. The user's platform determines how they make and receive feedback on selections.
Kenya Hara's work on La Seine Musicale.
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TIME's holographic informational signage.
Holographic signage directs the user throughout the space, taking inspiration from Japanese designer Kenya Hara.
Users can learn more on each site via skeuomorphic captions that look like signage.
Images and video were taken inside the experience in virtual reality using VRChat's camera system.
The TIME Facility can be visited using a virtual reality headset or desktop PC. It supports up to six users at a time.
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Challenges encountered on this project, and how they'll be approached in future projects:
The TIME Facility was an entry to NSSA Space Jam 2024 completed over 30 days during my NASA internship to learn more about experiential design and space architecture. It is a personal work not affiliated with NASA and only references publicly available research.
It was showcased in VRChat from April 12 to April 26, 2024.
