Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond
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Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond is the title of a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) which as of November 25, 2009[update], is being developed by NASA with Project Whitecard Inc., WisdomTools Enterprises and the Virtual Heroes division of Applied Research Associates, Inc. The game world will be set in the future (2035 or later), with the ability to explore planned and possible near-future moon missions, which is facilitated by the use of NASA Learning Technologies, and Innovative Partnerships programs.
Other NASA Learning Technologies programs include Second Life's MOONWORLD [1] and Moonbase Alpha [2] on the STEAM network, as well as a few others on different platforms going all the way back to the original Nintendo NES system of the 1980s.
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[edit] Development timeline
November 25, 2009 was the "pre-development start" date for the project.
On October 11, 2011, the Kickstarter pre-funding drive successfully met its scheduled end. The goal of $25,000.00 to prove some commercial viability was greatly exceeded and a total of $46,719 was raised. This is very close to the initial (failed) drive goal of $50,000 which was held just prior to this drive. [3]
The team plans to release a beta in 2012 and a full product closer to 2013.
[edit] Justification
The game is being developed because the belief in games used as educational tools is gaining recognition, and NASA is in a position to develop an online game that functions as a persistent, synthetic environment supporting education as a laboratory. It is the same reason pilots train with flight simulators. The initiative to develop a NASA MMO comes from the office of NASA Learning Technologies at NASA Goddard, with studies initiated by Daniel Laughlin. The award of the Space Act Agreement was the result of a contested RFP (more details needed).
[edit] References
This article incorporates public domain material from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration document "Development of a NASA-based massively multiplayer online learning game".
[edit] External links
- Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond Home Page
- NASA: Moonbase Alpha
- Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond on Kickstarter.com
- NASA: MOONWORLD
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