Abstract
A human mission to Mars has long been advocated. As each year the scientific researches bring mankind closer to establishing human habitats on Mars, the question of how astronauts can sustain themselves whilst away from the blue planet becomes crucial.
The project presented in this paper aims at designing and developing the Virtual Reality (VR) simulation of an inflatable modular greenhouse featuring a system that manages the growth of the plants and helps the astronauts control and monitor the whole greenhouse more extensively. The use of VR technology allows simulating an immersive environment of a Mars habitat highlighting its greenhouse overcoming the limitation of physical locations. Wearing the Oculus Rift head-mounted display (HMD) while holding Oculus Rift Touch Controllers, astronauts or Mars exploration enthusiasts could experience the highly interactive and realistic environment. Its goal is to provide training and evaluative simulations of astronauts’ basic tasks and performances in the greenhouse on Mars while testing the growing method of hydroponics equipped with a smart growing controlling and monitoring system.
