virtual astronaut for scientific visualization—a prototype for santa maria crater on mars虚拟宇航员科学visualization-a原型圣玛丽亚火星陨石坑.pdfVIP

Future Internet 2012, 4, 1049-1068; doi:10.3390/fi4041049 OPEN ACCESS future internet ISSN 1999-5903 /journal/futureinternet Article Virtual Astronaut for Scientific Visualization—A Prototype for Santa Maria Crater on Mars Jue Wang *, Keith J. Bennett and Edward A. Guinness Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, 1 Brookings Drive, CB 1169, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; E-Mails: bennett@ (K.J.B.); guinness@ (E.A.G.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: wang@; Tel.: +1-314-935-7033; Fax: +1-314-935-4998. Received: 16 July 2012; in revised form: 5 December 2012 / Accepted: 10 December 2012 / Published: 13 December 2012 Abstract: To support scientific visualization of multiple-mission data from Mars, the Virtual Astronaut (VA) creates an interactive virtual 3D environment built on the Unity3D Game Engine. A prototype study was conducted based on orbital and Opportunity Rover data covering Santa Maria Crater in Meridiani Planum on Mars. The VA at Santa Maria provides dynamic visual representations of the imaging, compositional, and mineralogical information. The VA lets one navigate through the scene and provides geomorphic and geologic contexts for the rover operations. User interactions include in-situ observations visualization, feature measurement, and an animation control of rover drives. This paper covers our approach and implementation of the VA system. A brief summary of the prototype sy