Mixed Reality Platform to Enhance Space Domain Awareness of Space Weather and Facilitate Data-Driven Decision-Making

NASA needs tools that allow people to visualize and understand the complex space environment. Three dimensional augmented, mixed, and virtual reality (AR, MR and VR, or collectively extended reality - XR) provide a way to enhance space data understanding and improve the quality of space domain-related decision-making. Company proposes using a mixed reality medium to meet the objectives of this solicitation, with respect to making informed decisions concerning space weather by combining & displaying space weather-related data sources in one platform. Mixed reality blends the real world with digital assets contextually placed in an environment. It lends itself to a collaborative experience that can be shared with peers or "multiuser". Dauntless XR proposes a mixed reality holodeck platform to collaboratively view space weather data on coronal mass ejections (CMEs) visualized in immersive 3D. Dubbed “Aura” the proposed solution enables users to integrate NASA data into their decision-making process and make more informed decisions regarding space weather. We propose to accomplish this by taking data from a Unified Data Library API and visualizing the data as a realistic 3D artifact in the Aura holodeck as it becomes available, paired with relevant standards, best practices, and data interpretation tips. The proposed innovation is hardware agnostic across headsets, phones, and tablets to maximize accessibility. The proposed innovation makes NASA space weather data easy to access, quick to understand, and seamless to integrate into a workflow, even as forecasts remain uncertain. Aura for space weather would provide value to a general audience to educate and foster further innovation and inquiry to those with space domain expertise who may or may not be traditional users of NASAs data. As a digitally native solution the proposed platform is able to use existing data sources, but also add new ones as they become available giving the solution longevity and agility to adapt.

The potential NASA application is a novel space weather application that combines multiple data sources and practices to support space operations, that can continuously be improved and updated over time. Ultimately XR data visualization modules could include: Space weather; Launch & early orbit phase checkout; and Satellite Impact/position. The proposed application will ingest data from select sources; however, the backend architecture will ingest data from a variety of sources and sensors to continually enhance space domain awareness.

Non-NASA applications for the proposed Aura innovation is a cohesive space weather monitoring, prediction & mitigation application for use by defense customers, commercial space companies, companies impacted by space weather events such as airlines, energy companies, and insurance companies, as well as academic institutions, where end-user understanding of Sun-Earth physics varies.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 6) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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