MarsVR - Virtual Reality Platform To Support Exploring Mars

We just hit $20,000! 73% of Goal!
almost 6 years ago – Wed, May 16, 2018 at 08:25:17 AM

Greetings CrowdExplorers,

I'm happy to report we have just passed $20,000 towards our overall goal of $27,500.  A big THANK YOU to all the backers and supporters that have gotten us this far.

We still have plenty of metal medallions available as well as MDRS crewmember seats.  These are both limited opportunities, so please take advantage and tell your friends and colleagues at work & school!

We are already looking towards our stretch goals that will be announced once we hit $27,500, we will soon be adding a new reward level, and we also have some other exciting announcements.  The momentum is not slowing down (quite the opposite), so stay tuned....

-James Burk
Program Manager, MarsVR

New Reward Level - Embroidered Patches!
almost 6 years ago – Tue, May 15, 2018 at 09:38:54 AM

Hi all,

I'm excited to report some news on the Kickstarter.  We are working with a vendor that can make embroidered patches, just like the ones you see astronauts wear on their uniforms and bomber jackets. 

We will be offering three different types of patches as part of the Kickstarter (and beyond).  You can be among the first to get your hands on these physical rewards by either pledging at the $25 level (for first time backers), or by increasing your existing pledge by $20!  Also, you can add another $20 to get more than one of these patches (there are three different options, and you can also order multiple copies!).   So for example, if you have already pledged $50 for the metal medallion, you can add a single patch by raising your pledge to $70, or you can add two patches by raising your pledge to $90, or get all three by pledging $110.

Also, everybody that has already pledged at the $100 level or above will receive a free patch!

Here are the three options:

1. MarsVR Mission Seal - 3" with heat seal backing

2. Male CrowdExplorer - 3" with heat seal backing

3. Female CrowdExplorer - 3" with heat seal backing

Program Update - May 7th, 2018
almost 6 years ago – Tue, May 08, 2018 at 01:58:18 PM

Greetings CrowdExplorers!

Here’s the latest update on our Phase 1 Kickstarter as well as the latest from our development team. First, let’s talk about how the Kickstarter is going. As of today, we are 1 week into the campaign and we’ve raised a total of $18,758 from 63 individual backers, which represents 67% of our overall goal! We have 24 days remaining now, and we are confident that we will hit 100% and receive our funding.

We’d like to hit it soon, so that we can begin the serious planning activities for June & July, when we will scan the MDRS facilities and terrain, and we’ll begin to assemble our VR environment.

There are several of our limited-edition Medal Medallions remaining, and we also have several seats available on Crew 197 in October, which will be the first-ever crew for the MDRS with members of the general public. Please pledge generously to our Kickstarter!

Second, we have created a 6-minute Program Video Update which answers some of the most frequently-asked questions we’ve received. We are planning to do these regularly.

Finally, here’s all the news articles and media that came out about the project this week. This is only the beginning!

Space.com article

Spaceflight Insider article

Red Planet Radio podcast

Youtube trailer video for our Kickstarter

All Kickstarter Updates

Kickstarter is now featuring us as a "Project We Love"!
almost 6 years ago – Tue, May 08, 2018 at 01:58:01 PM

Exciting News! The MarsVR program team was just informed by Kickstarter that our project has been selected as a "Project We Love".

Kickstarter is now featuring us prominently on their platform. You can now see the "Project We Love" badge on our campaign page, and we are one of the top featured projects in their Technology category, which you can access using this link.

Thank you to all the backers and supporters that have taken us this far!  We'll see you at the MDRS (in VR or in person!)

Founding CrowdExplorer Badges
almost 6 years ago – Fri, May 04, 2018 at 11:47:39 PM

Greetings CrowdExplorers,

I wanted to share with you some exciting new design work we just completed.  We will be using this in a couple ways for the project: when you participate in the Phase 1 MDRS training experiences, you will be able to earn "Badges" for completing tasks and for other things. You will also be able to see these on our website when you login and use your profile for things like our developer forums.

Well, we are creating a very special Badge you can ONLY earn by participating in this Kickstarter -- which is the Founding CrowdExplorer Badge.  As you can see below, we have a version for both the guys and the gals. 

We are also looking at possibly creating physical embroidered patches of these as well. Stay tuned for that...

Remember, you will only be able to have one of these in the experience if you are a member of the Kickstarter, typically using the Steam Key that you will receive.  We will also have a way for everybody who pledged at the $5 or $10 level to get one of these also, if you contact us and provide some details on your Kickstarter pledge (since we have some anonymous donors).

By the way, an update on the Kickstarter -- we only have under $9000 to raise and we have over 3 weeks to do it.  Seems doable, right?  We are confident we will hit our goal.  However, we are eager to do it SOON, so we can start the serious planning for this summer and all the photogrammetry we need to do at the MDRS in Utah. 

So PLEASE, tell your friends, family, colleagues, anybody you can about our project!!!  And don't forget to tell them: our Kickstarter is the only way that you can "Jump the Line" and become an MDRS Crewmember without having to apply.  We're hoping folks will take advantage of this opportunity and get us that much closer to our goal of using Virtual Reality as a serious research tool, to help us get humans to Mars!  So please pledge to the Kickstarter or up your current pledge to help us!

Until next time, I'll see you on Mars (in VR!)

-James Burk
Program Manager, MarsVR
IT Director, The Mars Society