Let's go to Mars

The Situation

Create an interactive web experience using virtual reality tools to recreate the in-person VR experience on the web while providing education and accommodations for unsupported and outdated browsers? Pass the Red Bull.

As part of a larger initiative by Lockheed Martin, the Generation Beyond website was designed to deliver the same information as the physical Mars Bus experience at the USA Science and Engineering Festival. The physical bus was a fully immersive VR experience for children to see what the Red Planet was like and get excited around the upcoming Orion test launch that spring.

The Final Technology

This is the first time ISL was to win a Cannes Gold Lion.

The 'Flight to Mars' portion of the website was created in Unity and delivered in WebGL. With precise calculations for spacial bodies rotations and projected flight path in 2020, the team developed an experience that allowed children to learn about Orion, Mars, and the future flight to Mars through manipulatable, interactive, scientifically accurate models. 

Rodrigo T and Eli F divided and conquered the site build, focusing on the Unity experience and web build respectively. Maggie Gaudaen designed the site and supported with design review during the QA process. Textures for the Orion and Mars objects were created by Framestore in NYC, who was also working with the Mars Bus physical build team.

As a product manager, my role was that of account manager, project manager, and analytics strategist all in one. I spent the hours with my engineering team writing user stories, managing client expectations, writing contracts, performing acceptance test checks, regression testing, and drafting flight paths with Rodrigo for the Unity experience. This experience let me get intimately acquainted with the benefits and limitations of Blender, Maya, Unity, and Unreal, while highlighting the benefits of Turbosquid in the model creation process.