The Oculus Rift and Virtuix Omni are primarily intended as gaming peripherals but places like NASA have a use for the crowdsourced VR equipment as well. The space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has used the gear to take a stroll on the surface of Mars, something which might be very handy to do in a virtual space prior to sending a manned mission to the red planet.
The JPL has also mapped the International Space Station into a virtual environment, allowing scientists to explore the ISS without having to blast into space. Perhaps they could release the simulations to the general public so that they too can wander around places they’ll only get to once space tourism gets a lot cheaper.
