Experience a Field Trip to Mars with Generation Beyond

Put yourself in your past self’s shoes. Dream yourself back to weary days of middle school science classes, worn-out books and dusty planetary maps of the universe and ask yourself: “What would have made this more fun?”.

Recently, a group of highly talented developers and visionaries of the Lockheed Martin corporation wanted to test and see just how their current knowledge of 21st century technology could help kids of this generation discover a new interest towards a career in the aerospace industry. Discovering a burning passion for what’s out there is, in essence what the “Generation Beyond” program is all about:

“Our children — the elementary, middle and high school students of today — make up a generation that will change our universe forever. This is the generation that will walk on Mars, explore deep space and unlock mysteries that we can’t yet imagine,” — Marillyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

The experiment they conducted was plain simple. The team wanted to put a group of children into a regular school bus and make it to feel as if they were driving the vehicle across the plains of the Red Planet.

So, as the plan would have it, on April 15th 2016, a group of middle school kids ventured into a custom-made Virtual Realty vehicle masqurerading as a mere school bus. Once inside, they would experience an impressive demonstration of technology aimed to show them just how extraordinary their futures could be, should they choose to pursue a career in space. Utilising NASA-like HUD’s as an overlay on a stunning bronze horizon, these children took their first one small step towards a future in space. Let’s hope they keep walking.

Generation Beyond: What’s Next?

VR Today Magazine launched in May, which means that unfortunately, at the time we founded and began reporting, we didn’t get a chance to take you through that beautiful initiative by the Lockheed Martin’s “Generation Beyond” project. What we can promise though, is to keep you up to date as new and exciting VR-based explorations pop up across the many faces of VR.

If you would like to learn more about Generation Beyond and Lockheed Martin, you can check out their website, their Facebook Page, Twitter Profile or presence on YouTube