mars2030
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See how NASA envisions a 'Mars 2030' landing in VR
Just because you can't go with the astronauts NASA chooses for the first manned mission to Mars doesn't mean you can't experience the Red Planet for yourself. A NASA-approved virtual experience called Mars 2030 has just landed on the HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift and the PC through Steam. It puts you in the space shoes of an astronaut exploring 15 miles of Martian landscape, which was modeled after the planet's real surface as captured by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera.
HP made a VR backpack for on-the-job training
To date, VR backpack PCs have been aimed at gamers who just don't want to trip over cords while they're fending off baddies. But what about pros who want to collaborate, or soldiers who want to train on a virtual battlefield? HP thinks it has a fix. It's launching the Z VR Backpack, a spin on the Omen backpack concept that targets the pro crowd. It's not as ostentatious as the Omen, for a start, but the big deal is its suitability to the rigors of work. The backpack is rugged enough to meet military-grade drop, dust and water resistance standards, and it uses business-class hardware that includes a vPro-enabled quad Core i7 and Quadro P5200 graphics with a hefty 16GB of video memory.
