Silicon Spaceships is very excited to announce the installation of a visual simulation (vis-sim) product at the Boston Museum of Science.  The Venus Flyer is flight simulator that lets the pilot explore a region of Venus about the size of Asia.  The spaceship is controlled with a joystick and half a dozen buttons.  A geo-specific narration explains the features in front of the spaceship and what they suggest about the geological history of the planet.  The heads-up data display includes spaceship position, compass heading, speed, altitude and atmospheric pressure and temperature as well as the name and type of geological feature in view.  The pilot can display a map that shows the entire region of Venus they can explore, the spaceship's current position and heading, and interesting features to investigate.  For those who remember Ben Delaney's column in the June issue of Real Time Graphics, I think this was the kind of system he thought the world needed.
 

The Venus Flyer runs on a high-end PC using the VRSG visualization product from MetaVR.  Thanks to VRSG's high frame rate and texture and geometry paging in conjunction with the accuracy of the textures derived from data from NASA's Magellan probe, the Venus Flyer provides the same views of the planet you would get if you actually went to Venus.  Since MetaVR supports the PC platform with a three year hardware warranty and lifetime free technical support with no annual maintenance fees, the Venus Flyer has a price point that museums can afford.

Steve McDonald, the founder of Silicon Spaceships, spent many years working in the vis-sim industry.  He started working on the original SIMNET project at BBN and has worked on simulators, electronic maps, data analysis tools, and semi-automated forces for both the US military and several NATO countries.

Silicon Spaceships is dedicated to integrating simulation technology and NASA data to create exciting educational products.  For more details about Silicon Spaceships, you can visit our web site at http://www.SiliconSpaceships.com or contact Steve at steve@SiliconSpaceships.com or 617-628-2696.