Dear innovators,

For those of you that could not make the Q&A panel discussion last week, the recording is now available for you to view below.

Additionally, please see the bottom of this update to view key links requested or mentioned during the webinar, as well as answers for the questions that we didn't have time to address live.

Links: 
Assets: https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/models

XOSS Getting Started: https://vimeo.com/708250577

Join the Discord: https://discord.com/invite/vpDB929RPJ

Unanswered Questions:

1. I am trying to implement a drivable MMSEV. It looks like there is a already an asset called MMSEV2. It doesn't seem to work though. I have been trying to get it to work with the chaos vehicles plugin, but the VR project doesn't seem to like the plugin. Is it possible to implement chaos physics, more specifically, chaos vehicles, into the project? Also, would the MMSEV be included as an EVA activity? 

We have some work left to make MMSEV fully operational and making it functional is on our road map.  We also plan to move to CHAOS physics in the future.  If the objective is to “just” make the MMSEV drivable and make that a submission, then I’m not sure that would  provide much value for us longer term, as the work left to make the current MMSEV functional is less than work it would take to migrate someone else’s implementation.  Also, current MMSEV has a suspension system that is based on data received from the Physical Rover MMSEV development team, so it would be difficult for anyone to create something that was more realistic.  If the intent is to make an MMSEV drivable so that it can be used for an EVA activity, then that would be something that would be of value.  We ARE interested in gaining functional assets, but the MMSEV is probably not one of them given the work that is already underway on it.

2. Is there some dust density value over time on surface estimates one can access programatically? 

We do not have a link available to share so you will have to do some digging, but we expect that there is likely research published by NASA or similar which talks about dust makeup, formation, buildup, mitigation strategies, etc. Getting a good characterization of dust would be extremely valuable for several EVA missions.

3. Is it possible to use Blueprints instead of code? Or is only code able to manage XR related things?

Blueprints are the desired (required) way to code any new EVA missions.  For 3D asset creation, any tool that can produce a VR ingestible model would be acceptable.

4. Not having C++ access removes the ability to execute many things like chaos physics that were explicitly requested prompts. Why do we not get access to C++ access that would open up more functionality or why are there prompts given that are not possible without C++? Is there a way around this?

We understand that not being able to work directly with C++ limits what can be developed, but some internal constraints drove us to this decision including available resources and competing projects. We apologize for any misalignment between what is possible without C++ access and the guideline prompts and submission requirements. If there are novel capabilities that someone has, which requires C++, we would love to hear about them still.  One of our hopes is that we can bring this challenge back in the future and continue making XOSS better and more accessible - there's a lot of really cool future plans for VR/XR at NASA and we certainly hope to keep interest high and people engaged in our mission also.

5. I’m running into a problem with packaging the project for submission. Can you please give us some ideas on the packing process for VR?

You can view details about how your submission should be packaged under the 'How Do I Win?' section on the challenge guidelines tab - https://www.herox.com/MarsXR/guidelines