GLIMMER

The purpose of the Geological Landscape Illumination and Mapping of the Moon's Environment and Reflections (GLIMMER) simulator is to create a highly realistic and immersive virtual model of the Lunar south pole in preparation for NASA's Artemis 3 mission.

Summary

Students at the GRILL® worked to create a simulator with an immersive virtual model of the Lunar South Pole. The simulator had to replicate terrain accurately including the cratered landscape and rough textures, utilize proper lighting architecture characterized by low sun angles and elongated shadows, and integrate real-time modeling of planets/stars.

Features and Design

Software

Unreal Engine 5
QGIS
JPL SPICE

Hardware

Oculus Meta Quest 2

Contributions

Team:

Teja Akella
Casey Cross
Lorelai Houser
Sanjay Shankar

Mentor:

Mr. Tyler Frost

Clients:

NASA
- - Thomas Wolters
  - Charles Dischinger
- 711th HPW-RHDO (Optical Radiation Bioeffects Branch)
  - Dr. Julie Lovell
  - Dr. Peter Smith

Outcomes and Additional Information

GLIMMER stands for Geological Landscape Illumination and Mapping of the Moon’s Environment and Reflections.
The team used Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Topography to help create height maps of potential landing zones and JPL's SPICE (Spacecraft, Planet, Instrument, Orientation “C”-matrix, Events) model to create real-time models of planets and stars with customizable positions.
A challenge to overcome was the sun's lighting, given the lack of atmosphere. Modeling had to account for no scattering and backscattering, intense lighting, blinding glare, reflectivity of regolith, and changes when the player moved in the virtual environment.
The simulation uses SPICE (Spacecraft Planet Instrument Orientation “C”-matrix Events) for the real-time modeling of planets and stars.

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