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SearchTerm:FlightSimulatorBusiness
The link below may be of interest to the pilots in the NewMars community.
The Mars connection is that there may be a business opportunity to load the simulation with Mars data as it becomes available.
Judging from what I can make out about the Google Earth Mars simulation, there is already a significant amount of data shipped home by Mars Observer and other probes. Google Earth has a flight simulator mode, but the citation below appears to be a cut above that.
A Google search for flight simulator and related topics turned up so many initiatives I decided not to try to document the search. One interesting citation was for a young British college student who is reported to have started a successful software business delivering "real" airport data to customers for flight training.
http://www.thisweeknews.com/news/201811 … ness-soars
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Last edited by tahanson43206 (2018-11-29 12:05:59)
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I've previously referenced the commercial possibilities for Earth Bound Simulations/Directions. I think there would be commercial value on Earth if people could direct robots on Mars to create their own rock sculptures, carve their initials on rock faces with lasers etc (with activities like this the time lag is of no consequence). How about a Love Wall where men (Mars is identified with men of course) could declare their love for women by laser blasting it in rock. I don't mean exclusively men - just from a commercial aspect more men would be attracted to do so. One million men pay $250 dollars, they get the pic, they have a code that access the location camera which allows them to show it to their would be mate.
Spacenut ... I have no idea where this should go. Please move as appropriate.
SearchTerm:FlightSimulatorBusiness
The link below may be of interest to the pilots in the NewMars community.
The Mars connection is that there may be a business opportunity to load the simulation with Mars data as it becomes available.
Judging from what I can make out about the Google Earth Mars simulation, there is already a significant amount of data shipped home by Mars Observer and other probes. Google Earth has a flight simulator mode, but the citation below appears to be a cut above that.
A Google search for flight simulator and related topics turned up so many initiatives I decided not to try to document the search. One interesting citation was for a young British college student who is reported to have started a successful software business delivering "real" airport data to customers for flight training.
http://www.thisweeknews.com/news/201811 … ness-soars
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Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com
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tahanson43206,
Well, if realistic video games are your thing, then I guess it's a good deal. The hourly cost for using the RedBird simulator with an instructor present at the flight school I go to is less than that, but it's not as fancy. I think the FAA permits 2 to 4 hours of instruction in a simulator to count towards your PPL, but that's it. The RedBird doesn't really replicate a 172 very well. It's mostly the yoke / stick forces (until you trim it off in the actual 172; the simulator is more sensitive to control input than the real airplane and you can't really "look around" outside the cockpit to orient yourself in the pattern), turbulence, and the noise that the simulator doesn't replicate. I'm actually happy about the fact that it doesn't replicate the noise very well. Aircraft are stupidly loud. All that said, it's actually good practice for landing and using a glass cockpit to navigate and communicate.
From what little I've seen and have been told by the instructors, operating a jet or turboprop aircraft is mostly a matter of using the instruments (nearly all modern airliners have sophisticated glass cockpits that you have to know the UI to use), navigating, and following procedures. Obviously someone who's never piloted an aircraft before wouldn't know these things, so it wouldn't hurt at all to learn a little bit about how modern aircraft work.
Just like CPR, hopefully you'll never have to use what you've learned. However, if such a terrible situation can't be avoided, then it's best to understand things like:
1. Where are the flight and engine instruments located and what are they telling me?
2. How do the radios, navigational aids, and autopilot work?
3. What do I need to know to communicate with Air Traffic Control (ATC) to relay an inflight emergency and request the information you require to get the plane on the ground?
Rather than taking a crash course in piloting modern aircraft at a time when you might literally be in the process of crashing, it'd be great if these things were common knowledge since aviation is increasingly a part of life in developed countries. You don't need to be a Top Gun graduate or NASA astronaut to figure these things out. Farmers routinely fly aircraft. It's a learnable and valuable skill to have in your tool belt to save your own life or the lives of people you care about, just like knowing CPR.
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Louis, every now and then your imagination gets ahead of me !!! I'll have to admit I was stuck back in a mode of imagining simulated flight over the Martian landscape. Your concept of long distance sculpture could be realized using 3D printer technology, if a customer were willing to pay for rental of the equipment and materials, much as 3D Printer customers do today on Earth. I have difficulty imagining anyone doing that, but it certainly will be feasible at some point.
kbd512 ... thanks for your perspective on the value of flight training for emergency capability. I like your CPR example, and would add to that the capability to stay afloat in water, which was a phys ed requirement at the school I attended in California.
However, what I ** really ** wanted to thank you for was the tip about RedBird, which was (I gather) founded in Texas in 2006. There are only two reviews on the company web site, but the pictures of the equipment give a good sense of how realistic the experience would be.
I see what you mean about not having a side view, but that could be dealt with if the manufacturer wanted to make the investment, and if customers were willing to fund the enhancement.
However, modern VR equipment might solve the problem nicely.
I am waiting for VR equipment to achieve a level that is beyond where it was when I last tried it a year ago.
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Last edited by tahanson43206 (2018-11-29 22:40:52)
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Once we are there, all sorts of possiblities arise. You might be able to direct a Mars Robot to take a little chunk of rock and you could view that little chunk of rock being put in an envelope addressed to you and then, a few months later, perhaps the package will come through your door back on Earth.
It might not appeal to everyone but if it appeals to 0.0125% of the world's population that's a million people. A million people who might pay $100 for the experience and that's $100 million of revenue on which you might make $20 million profit with the other $80 million going to boost the Mars-Earth transport economy and the Mars economy itself.
The point is that once we have the transport and technology connection with Mars all sorts of things that will be developed by entrepreneurs become possible, things we just can't imagine at the moment and I think some of those things will be very profitable.
Louis, every now and then your imagination gets ahead of me !!! I'll have to admit I was stuck back in a mode of imagining simulated flight over the Martian landscape. Your concept of long distance sculpture could be realized using 3D printer technology, if a customer were willing to pay for rental of the equipment and materials, much as 3D Printer customers do today on Earth. I have difficulty imagining anyone doing that, but it certainly will be feasible at some point.
Last edited by louis (2018-11-30 02:34:04)
Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com
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Here's another idea I just thought of - we know multi-player computer games are hugely popular. What if you could link that concept with Mars, so that people see robots acting out conflict scenarios in a real Mars environment?
Yes, because of the time delay, you haven't got the immediacy of a normal computer game...but on the other hand the player (very likely a teenage boy) has the thrill of knowing you are directing a real robot on Mars, another planet in the solar system. This might be more of a strategic thing and possibly one where you are information gathering before the next round of action is beamed back on to your computer for 5 minutes. Again, it might not appeal to every teenager on the planet but it might appeal to enough, say 10 million around the globe to make this a potentially profitable undertaking.
Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com
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Louis,
You've described the current NASA/JPL scientific robot experience, in thinking about a game played from Earth on Mars. The men and women who plan robot activities do just as you described. They study data sent back after the most recent round, as well as data from previous rounds where necessary, and design plans for activities for the next sequence. A young local acquaintance is a member of BattleBot team, of which I gather there are several in this community. I'm pretty sure the hardware is guided by wireless commands from booths adjacent to the arena. Feedback time is (probably) measured in milliseconds.
There may indeed be teenagers with the patience of adult scientists and engineers such as control Mars robots today, but my guess is they are few and far between. That said, I will let your idea simmer on one of my many back burners. Something may happen or show up in the news feed to support your concept.
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Here's another idea I just thought of - we know multi-player computer games are hugely popular. What if you could link that concept with Mars, so that people see robots acting out conflict scenarios in a real Mars environment?
Yes, because of the time delay, you haven't got the immediacy of a normal computer game...but on the other hand the player (very likely a teenage boy) has the thrill of knowing you are directing a real robot on Mars, another planet in the solar system. This might be more of a strategic thing and possibly one where you are information gathering before the next round of action is beamed back on to your computer for 5 minutes. Again, it might not appeal to every teenager on the planet but it might appeal to enough, say 10 million around the globe to make this a potentially profitable undertaking.
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