“Step inside NASA's shoes.”
Length: ~ 5 minutes each
Cost: Free
Last updated: July 2024
Format: Live, interactive, and short clips/stills, with some fully immersive Virtual Reality (VR) experiences, and some Augmented Reality (AR) experiences
Software: Digital Sky 2 buttons, Uniview instructions, Digistar instructions, Digitalis instructions, Emerald Planetarium instructions, Shira player instructions, ePlanetarium instructions, OpenSpace instructions, some Rift, some Vive, and general media
This is a collection of media and tools, which includes 360 spherical images/videos using equirectangular warping. Members can access an interactive, planetarium curriculum using these assets. The media here should be usable by most digital planetarium systems, headset Virtual Reality, and smartphone VR setups, with minimum extra work to import them. There are also some true, interactive VR experiences listed on this page. Files are downloadable below, including videos. See the NASA Media Use Policy and the JPL Image Use Policy.
Latest addition: From NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, Spot the Sulfur Stones on Mars, downloadable 8k version here. From NASA Goddard, Black Hole Visualization Takes Viewers Beyond the Brink, downloadable in 4k and 8k. From NASA JPL, Explore Mars’ Gediz Vallis Channel With NASA’s Curiosity Rover, downloadable 8k version here.
Need help or have quesitons? jnee@jpl.nasa.gov
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory specializes in robotic space and Earth exploration, and is home to the Deep Space Network.
- NASA Marshall Space Flight Center specializes in rocket engines and human spaceflight assembly.
- NASA Kennedy Space Center specializes in launching space missions.
- NASA Johnson Space Center specializes in human exploration and operations.
- NASA Ames Research Center specializes in information technology, aerospace, and aeronautics.
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center specializes in space telescopes, solar missions, and test chambers. It's also home of the Scientific Visualization Studio, who has its own 360 and planetarium content.
- NASA Langley Research Center specializes in aviation, Earth's atmosphere, and technology.
- NASA Glenn Research Center specializes in developing technology for aeronautics and space, including communications, propulsion, biomedical, and more.
- NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center specializes in aircraft innovations including design, fabrication, operations, and more.
- NASA Stennis Space Center specializes in rocket propulsion testing.
- NASA partners and projects includes Hubble, Chandra, and other content.
- Other space-related VR and 360 content
For the public to try at home, view these YouTube 360 videos using your mobile device or computer, no goggles or other equipment is required. Total length of the entire playlist is over 2.5 hours long (data charges may apply). Pick your favorites and wow your friends and family with a rocket launch or trip to Mars! Also, while not strictly VR, try the web browser 360 experience NASA's Home and City that details NASA spin offs.
There may be some third-party content on this page. NASA does not endorse third-party content. Any third-party content is provided as examples of how NASA science can be used. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in third-party materials are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NASA.
Possible uses for museums and educators include the following:
- Use inside your existing planetarium shows, e.g. live, "space update" or "sky tonight" shows (see more information below for talking points), or use them in creating new shows.
- Use the alpha-channeled images as accurate panoramas for Martian landscapes.
- Use in a classroom, library, on the museum floor, or at a science festival. They work with most mobile devices, computers, and of course full VR rigs. Download for offline use to increase performance and reliabilty, and to decrease cellular data usage or Wi-Fi congestion. Third party VR players may be needed.
NASA 360 videos and VR experiences:
- From NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory - specializes in robotic space and Earth exploration, and home to the Deep Space Network.
- Clipper AR
- JPL Virtual Tour
- Earth 360 Video: The Call of Science with downloadable mp4. Also see clips from that feature, available for download.
- Exoplanets
- NASA Solar System Treks for Mars and the Moon feature "Experience TrekVR" under the settings "wrench," which is compatible with smartphone and goggle set ups.
- JPL Space Flight Operations Facility and Mars Yard - With static images of Mars Yard featuring Christina Diaz, SFOF featuring Tracy Drain, as well as the Rover Ride Along 360 video
- Mars
- Perseverance:
- Curiosity: Talking points for files at the bottom of the page labeled "Curiosity at":
- Spot the Sulfur Stones on Mars, downloadable 8k version here.
- Explore Mars’ Gediz Vallis Channel With NASA’s Curiosity Rover, downloadable 8k version here.
- Curiosity at Gediz Vallis Ridge, with downloadable still, labeled, and overlay with separate image.
- Atop 'Mont Mercou', with downloadable 360 PNG (higher than 8k).
- Glen Torridon - 8k mp4.
- Teal Ridge - 8k MP4
- Vera Rubin Ridge - Departs 4K
- Vera Rubin Ridge Panorama for the 8K Curiosity Mars Rover on Vera Rubin Ridge
- Ogunquit Beach
- Murray Buttes, and for the title image at the top of this page, see the original posting, and the JPL feature for talking points.
- Naukluft Plateau
- Namib Dune - For members only, see a version with alpha channeled sky.
- Pathfinder - talking points for the 360 video
- Spirit - October 2016 McMurdo Panorama with alpha channel sky
- The Engineering for Mars 2020 file is a compressed version of the full 1.3 GB file, which is available here. Learn more about Mars 2020.
- Engineering for Mars - Mars InSight mission at the In-situ lab at JPL is a 360 video in 60fps. Learn more about Insight here, which is landing on Mars in November 2018, and hear our archived conversations with the mission leads. For those having playback issues, Mars InSight has a compressed version that may work for your dome/headset.
- Cassini Grand Finale - talking points for the Cassini Farewell from JPL, which is a ZIP file containing select shots and clips from the 360 livestream from the Cassini mission end on September 15, 2017. The full, Emmy-award winning, 90 minute, 234 GB file can be viewed here on YouTube. The flat screen version can be viewed here on YouTube. Also, there's the 360 animation.
- Ceres Occator Crater - talking points for the 360 flyby
- Juno - resources and talking points for the 360 animation with extra audio, and 360 mission control for Jupiter Orbit Insertion
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- From NASA Marshall Space Flight Center - specializes in rocket engines and human spaceflight assembly.
- From NASA Kennedy Space Center - specializes in launching space missions.
- 360 View Inside Artemis Emergency Egress Basket, available in higher than 4k resolution upon request, compressed version available for download.
- Orion in 360 Degrees video with downloadable stills here, here, and here.
- NASA’s Artemis I Rocket at Rollout, downloadable here.
- Orion to SLS 360 video with downloadable MP4
- Artemis I Stage Adapter Lift and Mate, with downloadable MP4
- Artemis I Core Stage Lift and Mate, with downloadable 4k MP4
- SLS Core Stage Pathfinder Lift, Camera 1, and Camera 2
- Artemis Path to the Pad: Crawler-Transporter 2, with downloadable 4k file.
- Artemis Path to the Pad: Testing, software and the Launch Control Center with even more
- Installation of Orion's Spacecraft Adapter Cone, with downloadable 4k file.
- Tour the Commercial Crew Program downloadable 4k compressed files are below:
- Walk inside the Vehicle Assembly Building that assembles rockets for their final launch configuration. See the downloadable MP4.
- For the Parker Solar Probe mission, see the Launch 360, with an extra audio file.
- For the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, see the Launch 360 with an extra audio file
- For Osiris Rex, see the Launch 360 with an extra audio file
- For the Joint Polar Satellite System, see the Launch 360 with an extra audio file
- For the GOES missions, see the GOES-S Launch in 360
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- From NASA Johnson Space Center - specializes in human exploration and operations.
- From NASA Ames Research Center - specializes in information technology, aerospace, and aeronautics.
- From NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - specializes in space telescopes, solar missions, and test chambers. It's also home of the Scientific Visualization Studio, who has its own 360 and planetarium content, some of which is below:
- From NASA Langley Research Center - specializes in aviation, Earth's atmosphere, and technology.
- From NASA Glenn Research Center - specializes in developing technology for aeronautics and space, including communications, propulsion, biomedical, and more.
- From NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center - specializes in aircraft innovations including design, fabrication, operations, and more.
- From NASA Stennis Space Center - specializes in rocket propulsion testing.
- From NASA partners and projects:
- From NOAA: Sanctuaries 360° Virtual Reality Lesson Plans
- From the OSIRIS-REx mission - POV: First Celebratory Moments of Successful OSIRIS-REx Sample Return
- From Fiske Planetarium, with NASA partnerships, a collection of free fulldome movies and clips, including some VR 360 content, such as the Forward to the Moon 360 clip from the newly released fulldome film.
- From the European Space Agency -
- From the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, Explore NASA’s 70-Meter Deep Space Communications Dish, with the Spanish Language version.
- From the Chandra X-Ray Observatory,
- From IPAC,
- From the Space Telescope Science Institute,
- WebbVR for the Vive, a free, "true VR," interactive game.
- Fly through the Orion Nebula. Info and downloadable dome masters for planetariums are here, and the 360 file is here. Also, see the updated versions in Infrared, Visible, and Combined wavelengths, with those dome masters here: Infrared, Visible, and Combined.
- Space Telescope AR app, for iOS
- From Arizona State University, with NASA partnerships, a global and interplanetary Virtual Field Trip web experience and mobile experience.
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As more 360º video and VR content is released, this page will be updated. As general tips for planetariums using 360 video, most systems allow you to adjust the tilt and camera center within the spherical video so you can see more landscape, and/or focus on areas of interest throughout the video. Play with a video to see what the best angles and positions are for your dome setup, and members can ask questions: jnee@jpl.nasa.gov.
As always, we welcome feedback, bug reports, reporting broken links, examples/instructions for other planetarium systems, tips, tricks, etc. Just email us.
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