Professor Peter Doran of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) employs virtual-reality to further biological research in terrestrial environments analogous to those found on other planets, and to enable remote searches for, and identification of, life in extreme environments. Doran and EVL are part of the NASA-funded ENDURANCE project (Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic ANtarctiC Explorer), a collaboration of UIC, Stone Aerospace, NASA Ames Research Center and Montana State University. Project members are analyzing 3D biogeochemical information captured by an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in the extreme environment of West Lake Bonney, a perennially ice-covered Antarctic dry valley lake in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. They hope to apply what they learn to planetary science, such as capturing and analyzing information about the water ice surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. EVL’s OmegaLib software is used to display the 3D model in the CAVE2™ System.

Credits
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), UIC Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, Stone Aerospace, NASA Ames Research Center and Montana State University.