With the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program coming up this summer, the public surge of interest in space exploration has increased, especially as a trip to Mars becomes more realistic and possible. Due to this interest, NASA is working with Samsung to give the public a taste of what it is like to embark on a mission to the moon in “A Moon for All Mankind”.
The Complete VR Experience
Opening to the public this July in New York City, Samsung is debuting the immersive, 4D lunar gravity virtual reality experience “A Moon for All Mankind”. The experience will use the Samsung Galaxy S9+ smartphone and Oculus-powered Gear VR headset to gift customers will the power of a complete insight into what it is like to be apart of a mission to the moon.
Experiences like “A Moon for All Mankind” will give people a true chance to engage with brands and experiment with VR technology, which is still relatively new and yet to gain widespread traction across all industries.
How Does It Work?
To recreate a realistic moon mission, Samsung collaborated with the team working on the Active Response Gravity Offload System, which trains astronauts to function in low-gravity environments, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The experience was also created in partnership with creative agency Iris and creative studio Framestore.
“Visitors can experience a full space mission, including a briefing about how astronauts move on the moon. They will wear a flight suit, harness and Gear VR headset to experience what it’s like to walk on the moon. The headset uses dedicated sensors and a wide viewing field to offer an immersive experience” MarketingDive reports.
Since VR is not ubiquitous just yet, this partnership presents an interesting way to introduce the public to it, especially since it is based around an experience very few living people have had since the Apollo mission took us to the moon in 1969.
Get Excited For July!
The timing around the Apollo anniversary makes it a more meaningful experience than just showing off new technology, and it is a smart way for Samsung to generate more interest in the other virtual reality projects they have recently launched, including some sports and entertainment ventures last year that included VR content partnerships with NBC for coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio and Six Flags to add VR roller coasters to its amusement parks.
Just by glimpsing into the future, it is exciting to think about where VR can take us as technology continues to advance. The C-level suite is slowly taking notice of this technology, and when they uncover the infinite possibilities VR, it will be likely that business will be forever altered from as we know it. Overall, this creative campaign taps into Samsung’s technology in a smart way and ties it to a bigger cultural experience at the right time, which is what is sometimes needed to begin a true technological transition.
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