Moon-walker Aldrin hopes exhibit will inspire future on Mars

Apollo 11 moon-walker Buzz Aldrin says he hopes the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's new "Destination: Mars" experience will be help inspire human exploration of the Red Planet.

Aldrin was at the complex on Sunday at a media preview and ribbon-cutting for the attraction, which features a holographic image of Aldrin, as he guides visitors on a walk along the virtual Martian surface.

A proponent of colonization of Mars, Aldrin told reporters that he would like to see the next president make a bold statement shortly after taking office in January for accelerating the timeline for human spaceflight to Mars, so that we can one day "call two planets 'home.' " 

He said Congress — not technology — would be the big stumbling block for landing humans on Mars, alluding to the expense of doing so.

Aldrin's 2013 book, "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration," sets 2035 as a potential date for colonizing Mars. But Aldrin now says it is going to take NASA more time than that.

For now, though, Aldrin said he's excited about the new KSC Visitor Complex "Destination: Mars" experience, which opens to the public on Monday, and will be there until Jan. 1.

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The exhibit was developed by Microsoft and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and gives guests the opportunity to “visit” several sites on Mars using imagery from NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover.

Following two orientation videos, visitors to the exhibit “follow” Aldrin and Curiosity rover driver Erisa Hines of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as they lead guests to areas of Mars where scientists have made discoveries.

Guests are guided on Mars using a Microsoft HoloLens "mixed reality" headset. Mixed reality means that virtual elements are merged with the user’s actual environment, creating a world in which real and virtual objects can interact.

Jeff Norris, mission operations innovation lead for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said more than 1,000 images from Curiosity were used as part of the development of the exhibit experience.

Hines, who is one of more than a dozen rover drivers currently assigned to the Curiosity mission, said she believes the exhibit will help inspire interest in the program, as well as encourage more students to consider pursuing a career tied to the space program.

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Therrin Protze, chief operating officer of the KSC Visitor Complex, said he believes the exhibit also will encourage more people to visit the complex, which is Brevard County's most popular paid tourist attraction.

“The opportunity to get up close and personal with 'a walk on Mars' is so exciting, and we can’t wait for our guests to experience the thrill of it,” Protze said. “And we’re particularly honored to offer 'Destination: Mars,' as it is exclusive to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, offering our guests an experience they can’t have anywhere else: a real look into NASA’s work on Mars.”

Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana, an astronaut who flew on four space shuttle missions, described the "Destination: Mars" experience as "awesome. It is so cool."

Cabana said the only thing better would be him actually walking on the surface of Mars.

"Destination: Mars" grew out of OnSight, a scientific tool created by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Microsoft that now is used internationally by researchers. Scientists in different cities or countries can "walk" together across the Martian surface, discuss geological features and plan for future exploration. The mixed reality tool allows them to study Mars in a more naturalistic way than ever before, as well as helps prepare scientists and engineers for NASA’s goal of a manned mission to Mars.

Monday will be the first opportunity for the general public to view "Destination: Mars," although it had been in operation for several days at a Microsoft Build 2016 conference earlier this year in San Francisco.

Norris said the exhibit — which he described as "groundbreaking" — had "extremely positive" feedback from attendees of that conference, and there were "big, long lines" of people waiting to try the experience.

Kudo Tsunoda, corporate vice president for next-gen experiences, Windows and devices groups at HoloLens/Microsoft, said his company had "a rare opportunity" to work with content from NASA.

"It's an incredible experience," Tsunoda said, adding that he hopes "Destination: Mars" will help "inspire the next generation."

Norris said plans for the attraction beyond its run at KSC have not been determined.

A limited number of people can be in the attraction at any one time — a total of 16 — and people coming to the Visitor Complex can sign up for a reservation time once they enter the complex, according to Andrea Farmer, senior communications manager at the complex. The exhibit will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is included with admission to the complex. Because of the sophisticated headsets used in the experience, the Visitor Complex describes "Destination: Mars" as "suitable for those 13 years and older."

Time inside the attraction itself is about 8 minutes, although the orientations, and fitting of the special Microsoft HoloLens viewers add to the time frame.   

Doug Ellison, visualization producer with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said he hopes "Destination: Mars" will "strike a chord with thousands of people here" during its run at the KSC Visitor Complex.

Protze said, while the exhibit is temporary, he expects the Visitor Complex will continue to concentrate on Mars, as it looks ahead to the future of the space program.

"We'll have an exhibit like this or much bigger" in the future focusing on Mars, Protze said, as landing humans on Mars is being viewed as "a reality in our lifetimes."

The exhibit is one of the recent ventures of Aldrin, who in 1969 became the second person to step foot on the moon, joining his Apollo 11 mission mate Neil Armstrong on the moon's surface. Aldrin was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 11, and also was one of two astronaut on the Gemini 12 mission in 1966. 

Aldrin, 86, currently is chairman of ShareSpace Foundation, which educates youngsters about science, technology, engineering, arts and math. He also is involved in the Buzz Aldrin Space Institute at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.

Aldrin hopes the space program's efforts to get to Mars will spark a new version of "the Apollo effect," a time when student interest in science, technology and engineering grew as NASA was working to land astronauts on the moon.

As for his own legacy, Aldrin said he hopes to be remembered as "enlightened, innovative and futuristic."

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com, on Twitter at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54