Capturing the Moon: Assessing virtual reality for remote Lunar geological fieldwork

Overview:

As part of MIT’s component of the Resource Exploration and Science of our Cosmic Environment (RESOURCE) project we are testing both the scientific and operational usefulness of a virtual reality platform for local, small-scale (< 5 m) geological analysis for Lunar and planetary rover exploration missions. Specifically, we are testing the use of a commercial off-the-shelf LiDAR camera combined with RGB imagery displayed in a VR platform developed in Unity for the Oculus Quest 2 for geological exploration. Additionally, we incorporate local environmental data such as temperature, luminosity, humidity, and multi-spectral data. While in Svalbard, we captured a suite of environmental data to enable us to build a VR environment of a remote location using low cost instruments.  We collected 3D surface imagery using the Microsoft Azure Kinect LiDAR/RGB camera, point cloud data using the Velodyne LiDAR puck, ground texture and sample imagery using a DSLR camera and environmental data (luminosity, temperature, humidity and sound) using an Arduino MKR ENV Shield. We collected data from three distinct locations, and are currently work to render the data in VR and develop tools in the platform. With this platform, we will have scientists and geologists answer questions about the relevant local geology, namely 1) identify warm- or cold-based glacial till, 2) identify minerology from lichen classification and 3) confirm local permafrost activity. Having a geologist on-site we were be able to provide ground-truth and will compare the VR assessments to a screen-based platform and traditional geological field methods to better understand the relevance of VR for science in remote analysis.

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