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22 cgw j u ly . a u g u s t 2 0 1 7 F E A T U R E F E A T U R E SPACE TRAINING NASA is using game-engine tech to help explore space BY KAREN MOLTENBREY hile games like "Earthlight" and "Mars 2030" strive to feed the masses' hunger for a realistic space experience, actual space exploration and human spaceflight is serious, danger- ous, and technical business. While it may seem that with our continuous visits to the International Space Station (ISS), space travel has become old hat. But that is far from the truth. Only a small number of humans have the distinction of having been to space. And before they ever le the Earth's atmosphere, they spent seemingly a lifetime training for that distinction. Yet, training an astronaut is both time-consuming and expensive; aer all, performing a task in zero or reduced gravity is counterintuitive to everything they know, and there is no easy way to learn how to do so. On top of this, astronauts need to be prepared for the unexpected and able to react accordingly under intense life-and- death situations. So, how does one learn to work in unique conditions and make deci- sions under such immense stress? For years, NASA has developed ways to simulate the conditions of space for train- ing space-goers. In the 1960s, astronauts geared up and performed tasks atop a gravel surface meant to mimic that of the moon – while engineers and support staff were present nearby within their field of view. Indeed, things have advanced since then, through the use of both virtual and physical environments. Today, budding astronauts can use vari- ous devices and facilities, including the Ac- tive Response Gravity Offload System (AR- GOS), an apparatus designed to simulate reduced gravity, and the underwater Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL), where astronauts learn to live and work in harsh conditions and in confined spaces. Astronauts also continue to train in the Johnson Space Center's Virtual Reality Laboratory (VRL), which was founded two decades ago and uses internal NASA tools purely for astronaut training purposes. The system developed was a cutting-edge VR setup based on internally developed proprietary tools. NASA continues to employ cut- ting-edge technologies for a wide assort- ment of uses, recently establishing the Hybrid Reality and Advanced Operational Concepts Lab at the Johnson Space Center in Houston as another option in its training repertoire. The Hybrid Reality Lab (HRL) uses real-time gaming and visualization technology, and other off- the-shelf tools, for virtual space missions that integrate physical elements into the CG environment. "Our primary goal is to meet NASA's training, engineering design, scientific visualization, field analog, surface opera- tion, and human performance study needs by developing a highly immersive, realistic system that combines elements of both physical and virtual reality," says Matthew Noyes, soware lead at the new HRL. "We exist in that space where you have a mix of the physical and virtual, as the lab focuses on the integration of physical elements into the virtual world." What's perhaps surprising is that the space agency is relying on consumer virtual-reality technology – in particular, a commercial game engine – to make that happen. "NASA is leveraging the multi- billion-dollar games industry to subsidize the cost of human spaceflight," says Noyes. "At a fundamental level, training to explore space is sort of like creating a game. We immerse the user in a fabricat- ed, three-dimensional environment and have them complete objectives under various constraints." VIRTUAL ISS The Hybrid Reality Lab is looking at projects that improve the quality of en- gineering analysis, human performance, and such. More to the point, the group is examining the use of tracked hand tools and large static structures within the hybrid-reality environment. Perhaps the most intriguing applications are those aboard a hybrid-reality replica of the ISS, currently part of a technology demo. "NASA is always interested in how cutting-edge technology can help our programs," says Noyes. "With Unreal Engine, we've created a completely immersive, three-dimensional hybrid-reality environ- ment that is incredibly lifelike. In basic terms, that means we can put our crew in space while they're still on Earth." The system can be used to train astro- nauts to perform maintenance tasks, aid in the design of new equipment, support vari- ous studies related to human performance in space, and help to design new tools. TOOLS OF THE TRADE The mock-up of the internal American ISS modules was created using a variety of data sources. "It is dimensionally accu- rate," says Noyes of the ISS, albeit with a W