Lockheed Martin’s School Bus Takes Kids On A Virtual Reality Trip To Mars

Aerospace firm Lockheed Martin has created a ‘magic’ school bus to take budding astronauts on a virtual reality trip to Mars.

The Mars Experience Bus projects images from a 360-degree VR video of the red planet onto the inside of the blacked out windows of the vehicle to give kids an idea of what it’s like to zoom around on the Martian surface.

The immersive Mars tour covers 200 square miles of Martian terrain and is part of the company’s ‘Generation Beyond’ initiative which aims to inspire children to study for careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).

The high-tech school bus will be touring the U.S.

Lockheed Martin has also introduced the Hello Mars smartphone app which offers real-time weather reports from the red planet gathered by the Curiosity Rover, along with tips on how to Mars in the night sky.

The aerospace company is developing the four-person Orion spacecraft for NASA that will eventually take astronauts to Mars.

Image credit: Lockheed Martin