AR/WebXR for Public Engagement – VCU – C

INSTITUTION

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)

CLASS

Iridium Class (2024 – 2025)

STUDENT TEAM

Ankita Sahu, Computer Science
Santiago Blanco, Computer Science
Andre Smith, Computer Science
Adonias Daniel, Computer Science

ACADEMIC GUIDANCE

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The NASA Psyche mission is an orbiter mission to the metal-rich asteroid, Psyche, in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft, which launched in October 2023 and will arrive at the asteroid in mid-2029, will study the asteroid from orbit and will not land on the surface. The NASA Psyche mission has a large-scale 3D-printed model of its target asteroid. QR codes on the body of the 3D-printed asteroid allow museum visitors or students to use their smartphones to “orbit” the asteroid and “collect data” by scanning the codes. To increase the engagement of this activity, the team will develop AR or WebXR projects (https://immersive-web.github.io/webxr-samples/) for this model in order to explain something about the mission. Once complete, these projects will be incorporated onto the Psyche website (https://psyche.asu.edu) and shared with NASA’s Museum & Informal Education Alliance for use in museums and classrooms around the country and the world.

This work was created in partial fulfillment of the Virginia Commonwealth University Capstone Course “CMSC 441″/”CMSC 451”. The work is a result of the Psyche Student Collaborations component of NASA’s Psyche Mission (https://psyche.asu.edu). “Psyche: A Journey to a Metal World” [Contract number NNM16AA09C] is part of the NASA Discovery Program mission to solar system targets. Trade names and trademarks of ASU and NASA are used in this work for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by Arizona State University or National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of ASU or NASA.