Virtual Worlds, linden lab, nasa, second life

NASA Wants Second Life On The Moon

A sense of community is important to NASA. That's why they opened a NASA mansion for parties and just hanging out, hacking software and making Uranus jokes. But the NASA mansion was only good during the night. NASA's Andrew Hoppin explains how Second Life allowed connections during the day.

...we got employees from all around NASA - the 10 geographies around the country - showing up at these Tuesday afternoon meetings. We formed a community of NASA and non-NASA, started coworking in Second Life. Cultural change started to take place at the agency...

But Hoppin would like to see this cultural change happen far, far outside the agency:

We are all learning how to use virtual environments so when we go back to the moon, we can collaborate better. We can go for the ride in a participatory collaborative kind of way.

I can see it now. "We've lost thrusters, we're going down!!"

*NASA employee walks in with 10-foot clown penis*

"Am I late?"

NASA: How CoWorking Opened Us Up [psfk][image]

10:40 AM on Fri Apr 4 2008
By Mark Wilson
1,831 views
12 comments

Comments

illmatic291 at 10:50 AM on 04/04/08
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Well this by far seems like their best way of reaching out to Generation Y. I personally would rather apply for the real thing over sitting in front of a computer screen playing, i mean paying for a game.
Krondonian at 10:52 AM on 04/04/08
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I'm rather slow here, but are they proposing to have a Moon within Second Life, or set up a network on the moon?

Imagine the latency.
excel_excel at 10:53 AM on 04/04/08
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"Uranus? they changed the name of that planet years ago to stop that horrible joke once and for all"
"whats it called now?"
"Urectum."
Derigor at 10:56 AM on 04/04/08
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This is just a cover up to allow them to play WoW on the moon/mir space station. "It's not a raid! I am in a meeting right now"
BtownDesignGuy at 11:26 AM on 04/04/08
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Connectedness Index: 20

What kind of latency issues would they have on the moon? At the speed of light, it takes light roughly 1 1/3 seconds to go from the Earth to the Moon, so you're looking at a latency of at *least* 1333ms, even in ideal conditions. Unless they can find a way to establish an IP connection through a temporal distortion. Ha!
marlblank at 11:27 AM on 04/04/08
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Second life news:
Nasa builds moon in digital world.
Concerned citizens remark: That's no moon...
TemplaerDude at 01:22 PM on 04/04/08
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Seriously, why do you guys give this program so much news coverage? It's really really bad.
Stryker412 at 01:39 PM on 04/04/08
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Is there really a NASA area in SL? What's that picture from?
topaz420 at 02:07 PM on 04/04/08
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I used to love SL -- they lost me when they went from a libertarian "government" to a totalitarian one.
Antihippy at 06:45 PM on 04/04/08
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Flying penis alien confirmed?

So there.
Sabre_Justice: Okay,... at 08:54 PM on 04/04/08
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We're perverts on the moon!
Our wangs are like harpoons!
Purple Dave at 01:14 AM on 04/05/08
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@BtownDesignGuy:
All they need to do is invent the ansible. Oh, wait. Wrong sci-fi property. Um...can I do the countdown? Ten. Nine. Eightsevensixfivefourthreetwooneblastoff.