Nicole Daskas Blog 7 JPL#2

JPL #2
Nicole Daskas
This visit to JPL was heavily focused on Julia Christensen’s art collaboration with NASA. The project, titled “The Tree of Life”, will be a 200 year piece in which the sound of a tree will be sent into orbit 1,000 km outside of Earth. The sound, created with radar, changes based on the conditions the tree is living in. This sound, called a song, will be different for every tree. There are many aspects of this project that are still undetermined, as technology will have to advance for another 40 years before the cubesats with the songs can be sent into space. We were encouraged to ask questions about the “Tree of Life”, and everyone voiced their concerns surrounding the project. While there are definitely confusing and questionable aspects about this piece, it was valuable to see the way the team brainstormed and problem-solved. I appreciated that they valued the opinions of young artists and wanted to hear what the class had to say about their work. It was strange for me to think about starting a project that I would never see completed, and that left so much up to chance. This is a new way of working I had never considered. 
The most exciting aspect of this visit to JPL was the Mars Virtual Reality experience. We all filed into a small office space. Two square areas were designated by metal bars on the ceiling. Each student was handed a pair of VR glasses and taught how to fit the glasses to their heads. In one VR experience, one could see a model of the Mars Rover. The VR was a rectangle rather than being fully immersive. This allowed the viewer to experience the demo while still being aware of their surroundings. The rover was shown simplified, each part a different solid color to easily distinguish between components. The image could be made larger or smaller and flipped over. Everyone enjoyed playing with this feature. It was also possible to step completely into the image. When one leaned into one part of the rover, they could actually see the perspective from inside. Parts unseen on the outside of the rover now became visible.
The next virtual reality experience was the most exciting for me. In this VR, one could see the surface on Mars. This was surreal; it was hard to wrap my mind around what I was seeing. The VR was so detailed one could see grains of sand on the ground. There were rocks, hills, and a vast amount of red sand. It was strange to see how closely Mars resembled the deserts of my hometown, Las Vegas. This VR allowed viewers to toggle the Mars Rover on or off. The rover was larger on the surface of Mars than I had expected, and one could see its tracks in the sand. The excitement of every single person was evident; everyone felt amazed at what they were getting to see. 

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