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Walking on the Moon: Virtuplex Presents a Model of New Prague in Virtual Reality Including a Lunar Rover Concept
All you need to travel thousands of kilometres and walk on the moon is to put on a headset and a backpack.
All you need to travel thousands of kilometres and walk on the moon is to put on a headset and a backpack.
This experience that only a handful of humans have experienced is now
possible on Earth in Prague’s Virtuplex, which transposed a model of New Prague on the Moon and a Czech lunar rover inspired by Škoda’s cars into virtual reality. The author is a visionary space architect and head of the Xtend Design architecture studio in Prague and London.
Travelling to the moon still fascinates us. Private and scientific missions are in the works with the goal of exploring our natural satellite to one day build a permanent base. What would that look like? One possible vision comes from space architect Tomáš Rousek.
His proposal for a base on the moon’s southern hemisphere continues the work of the Global Moon Village that he presented a few years ago with Xtend Design. The current model of New Prague on the Moon is made up of prefabricated modules and buildings made on-site from lunar dust using 3D printing.
Residential modules are supplemented by laboratories, production facilities, greenhouses, solar farms, and landing strips. “The vision of Prague on the Moon demonstrates how far our society can go. It’s finally close to becoming a reality. Libuše predicted Prague’s fame would reach the stars. She would certainly be pleased by the Virtuplex in Horní Počernice. Today, a thousand years since Libuš, we can actually discuss her vision becoming a reality,” Tomáš Rousek said.
The Virtuplex offers the largest VR space in Europe, allowing people to walk across the surface of the moon in life-size scale. “Every day, our 600m 2 space allows clients to experience real estate projects, the design of new points of sale, apartments, office buildings, renovations of public spaces, and even models of entire new city neighbourhoods. The chance to walk through a possible future city on the moon is something that’s absolutely unique,” Virtuplex Co-Founder and CEO Martin Petrovický explained and adds: “As we see in standard commercial projects, the ability to simulate future products, buildings, and infrastructure in virtual reality greatly helps accelerate all projects while making them more cost effective anywhere, even on the moon.”
The design of New Prague on the Moon includes an EV dubbed the LUNIAQ inspired by the design of Škoda’s cars. It can also be toured in the Virtuplex. The LUNIAQ has a capacity for 4 astronauts, and it’s built on Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle (MMSEV) architecture by NASA. The rover allows for autonomous and remote-controlled operation. It has openings on either side that can be connected to the modules on the moon base. The back has another opening that offers astronauts the option of putting on their space suits without moon dust getting into them. The EV powertrain uses energy from the solid electrolyte battery that can be charged through the roof-mounted solar panels that can be unfurled. The roof also has a cooling system and communication antennae. The floor has a transparent window that allows passengers to view the terrain under the vehicle. It also has stereoscopic cameras for scanning terrain to display of the vehicle’s views in 3D so it can be controlled remotely.
The LUNIAQ thus gives the Czech base a means of transportation. Tomáš Rousek noted that it’s only up to our motivation and financing when the model could be built. Until then, we can walk through the moon base in virtual reality and prepare for the day we actually begin construction on the moon.
Virtuplex s.r.o.
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Do Čertous 3036/19
193 00 Praha 20
Virtuplex SK s.r.o.
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Devínska Nová Ves 7464
841 07 Bratislava