Space exploration seems so remote and advanced as to be inaccessible to most people. Everyone should see the career possibilities in many fields connected to space exploration and be able to imagine themselves – or their children – living and working in space. We need to humanize space, to familiarize it, to make it more possible and personal. We will create a small, space-flight-ready suite of instruments to act as our proxy, exploring the Earth. But humans are multisensory beings, so to truly experience and explore, we need to engage all five senses.

Project Goals

"Holodeck for Everyone"
We will create a small, spaceflight-ready suite of instruments to act as our proxy, exploring Earth. But humans are multisensory beings, so to truly experience and explore, we need to engage all five senses. Back at home, the Five Senses will combine research and education to expose and prepare more of society for humankind in space via a highly immersive and collaborative virtual environment (“Holodeck for Everyone”) that makes use of the data collected.

Bringing the space experience down to Earth
By making space understandable and relatable, we can help to engage the public to drive excitement for space exploration.

Key Accomplishments

Launching student-built payloads into space

ASU has partnered with Blue Origin and NanoRacks to launch three undergraduate student designed and constructed payloads aboard a New Shepard suborbital rocket in late 2018. These payloads include instrumentation to capture elements of the senses in space that the students will use to convey the experience here on the ground.

Life on Mars

This subset of the “holodeck” effort combines art and science to create an interactive, immersive, multisensory experience for people to feel what it might be like to live on Mars in the year 2175.

People 

Cassie Bowman
Associate Research Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, ASU

Judd Bowman
Associate Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, ASU

Laurence Garvie
Research Professor, Center for Meteorite Studies, ASU

Geoffrey Gonsher
Professor of Practice, School of Public Affairs/College of Public Service and Community Solutions, ASU

Tanya Harrison
Director of Research, NewSpace Initiative/Post-doctoral Scholar, School of Earth and Space Exploration, ASU

Danny Jacobs
Assistant Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, ASU

Judie Lyon
Philantropist, ASU Women & Philantropy

Brian H. Smith
Trustees of ASU Professor, School of Life Sciences, ASU

Victor Surovec
Program Coordinator, MKRspace, ASU

Cathy W. Swan
President, SouthWest Analytic Network, Inc.

Peter A. Swan
President, International Space Elevator Consortium/Partner, Zodiac Planetary Services

Roy Wasson Valle
Graduate Student, Herberger Institute, ASU

Karin Valentine
Media Relations and Marketing Manager, School of Earth and Space Exploration, ASU