NVIDIA Helps NASA Reconstruct Mars Rover Data In Virtual Reality

NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in visualprocessing solutions, announced that NASA is using its technology toreconstruct Martian terrain from transmitted rover data inphotorealistic virtual reality, allowing scientists to explore Mars in3D as if they were actually moving freely on the planet's surface. ThisNVIDIA-powered environment serves as a precise vision and planningsystem for NASA scientists, allowing them to rehearse a variety of Marsrover scenarios, mapping out moves and experiments, prior to directingthe vehicle to undertake actual tasks by "flying" through highlyrealistic, 3D reconstructions of the Martian surface.

"NVIDIA technology allows NASA to visualise the Martian terrain inphotorealistic virtual reality, greatly enhancing scientists'understanding of the environment and streamlining analysis," saidLaurence Edwards, Mars team lead for 3D visualisation and surfacereconstruction from NASA Ames Research Center. "With this capability,scientists step into a visually engaging model of the planet's surfaceand interactively study multiple perspectives - front, back, side views- of every object the rovers investigate to fully explore all optionsfor rover routes and experiments."

NASA scientists use NVIDIA graphics to visualise high resolutionphotographic imagery more than three times as detailed as images sentfrom Sojourner in 1997. Because the new rovers travel six to ten timesfarther than Sojourner, taking approximately 6,000 to 10,000 moremeasurements per foot, the data visualised with NVIDIA graphics istransformed into a particularly detailed, visually-enhancedrepresentation of the planet's terrain. Each day rover missions areunderway, one group of NASA scientists focus on that day's roveroperation while another plans the following day's activities bystudying and interacting with this graphically rendered photographicand measurement data - taken from targeted, but as yet unexploredMartian terrain.

"NVIDIA graphics allow NASA scientists to interactively plan rovermovements using 3D photorealistic views of the surface so commandstransmitted to rovers result in successful experiments and datagathering," said Edwards. "Data transmissions from Mars involve massiveamounts of image data that must be quickly viewed, studied, and shared.Three-dimensional visualisation in photorealistic virtual reality isthe most effective way to maximise distance traveled and knowledgegained."

Two NASA rovers, Spirit, which landed on Mars on January 3, 2004,and Opportunity, which is scheduled to land on January 24, 2004, willexplore locations that suggest the one-time presence of water. Byconverting the data collected from cameras and scientific instrumentson the rovers into knowledge through visualisation, NVIDIA graphicstechnology help NASA scientists learn more about the history of wateron Mars in the hopes of determining whether life currently exists on orbeneath the surface.

"Today, with this new technology, NASA can simulate the lighting andsurface conditions expected on Mars when an experiment is to beconducted," said Edwards. "If a rock will cast a shadow, obscuring afeature of interest, scientists on the ground will know about thiseffect in advance and plan around it. In the future, we envisionscientists sitting within a large wrap-around display and programmingrover movements and experiments using simple touch-screen or voicecommands."

NVIDIA technology also allows NASA to share the knowledge gainedfrom rover missions with the world community. Scientists worldwide canaccess and study the largest and most topographically accurate 3Dmodels ever constructed during remote space exploration and, with theroutine posting of 3D images on the Web, the public can virtuallyparticipate in the search for life on Mars.

About NVIDIA

NVIDIA Corporation is a market leader in visual computing technologydedicated to creating products that enhance the interactive experienceon consumer and professional computing platforms. Its graphics andcommunications processors have broad market reach and are incorporatedinto a wide variety of computing platforms, including consumerdigital-media PCs, enterprise PCs, professional workstations, digitalcontent creation systems, notebook PCs, military navigation systems andvideo game consoles. NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, Californiaand employs more than 1,800 people worldwide. For more information,visit the Company's Web site at www.nvidia.com.