Software of Seismic Proportions Promotes Enjoyable Learning

About this technology

Overview

Jack Sculley, a former researcher at Ames Research Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and Apple, Inc.'s and LucasFilm Ltd.'s multimedia labs, and Terry Brooks, a former public information officer at JPL and an Emmy award-winning documentary film producer, founded Seismic Entertainment in 1989 to present the scientific principles of NASA research to the public, in a novel and unique way. Sculley's experience as a virtual reality and Mars specialist and Brooks's experience creating NASA public access programs were significant to the company's success. In addition to the inspiration and knowledge acquired while employed by NASA, the founders gained assistance from the Agency in the form of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts. All of this led to the development of Inside NASA a software product that provides virtual tours of NASA's field centers. Inside NASA" also steps well outside of the NASA field centers' front doors to give its audience an adventurous yet informative panoramic look at some of the heavenly bodies above. These images explore the landscape of the Moon as seen from the Apollo 17 lunar rover; the Martian surface as seen from the Viking 2 lander; and the red spot of Jupiter as seen from the planet's Jovian moon Europa via the Galileo orbiter."