NASA have created a new iOS app called Spacecraft 3D that “brings some of the agency’s robotic spacecraft to life in 3-D.” Aimed at kids (and probably space fanatics), the app features two missions at the moment, the Curiousity rover which is due to touch down on Mars later this year and the two GRAIL spacecraft – called Ebb and Flow – that are orbiting the moon.
Spacecraft 3D makes use of augmented reality to overlay additional information about the tech in question onscreen using an iPhone or iPad’s camera. There are also augmented reality targets that can be printed out and used with the app and users will even be able to insert themselves in an image of the GRAIL spacecraft.
Stephen Kulczycki, deputy director for communications and education at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said “With Spacecraft 3D and a mobile device, you can put high definition, three-dimensional models literally into the hands of kids of all ages.”
In the pipeline for the app are the Cassini and Dawn spacecraft, as well as the Voyagers. The free app is presently only available for iOS devices though other platforms are in the works.
Source: Engadget