The Smithsonian Institution is tapping Virtual World SIG presenter (http://digitalmediasig.com/virtual-space-entertainment-june-23-2008/) Virtual Space Entertainment (along with Avatar Reality and Big Stage) to create a museum exhibit about a terraformed Mars.
The idea is that by 2150 the planet Mars has been transformed into a human-habitable environment. The virtual version of this goal is in progress to be rolled out as a virtual world to be colonized for business and educational uses. Using extremely high-end graphics the project is not yet available as an online virtual world, but apparently can be installed locally, and quite a few stunning virtual land and cityscapes have been created.
At the June 2008 Virtual World SIG Richard Childers gave a stunning demo of the environment. Some of the artwork was apparently influenced by or even contributed to by Roger Dean. Congratulations to this set of businesses working on the “Blue Mars” concept, and we’re looking forward to a day in which users can login from home and experience the work. In the virtual sense, it’s a great concept. In reality? I can only wonder what it might take to scale the environmental impact studies on Mars….
Via Venturebeat (http://venturebeat.com/2009/06/09/smithsonian-taps-virtual-world-technology-to-take-us-to-blue-mars/) Also covered by (http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/06/blue-mars-2150-moves-closer-to-launch.html)
More Blue Mars videos at: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C89ZL6wjwM)