________________________________________________________________________________ Wired News Army, NASA Merger Urged by Michael Stroud 3:00 a.m. 27.Jan.2000 PST There's nothing like hard times to bring folks together. Take, for example, NASA and the US Army. NASA's botched missions to Mars have put it on Washington's short list for budget cuts. And the Cold War has made Army spending another prime target. That's why the two are pooling their resources to improve something they both do undeniably well: computer simulation. Who, after all, but the Army can virtually fire a Howitzer? And who but NASA can simulate a space station docking? On Wednesday, the two government agencies announced plans to jointly develop simulation technologies. They hope teamwork will make the Army a lighter force and help NASA build the International Space Station and launch future space missions. "Some of our failures with the station and the [space] program helped sell the [collaboration]," said Samuel Venneri, NASA's chief technologist, in an interview. "People realized that we are at a limit of our capabilities." Neither the Army nor NASA disclosed financial details about the relationship. The agreement follows on the heels of a 1999 announcement that the Army would fund an "Institute for Creative Technologies," affiliated with the University of Southern California, to explore common uses for simulation technologies developed by both the entertainment industry and the Army. Announcement of the NASA partnership coincided with a conference on the Army's Simulation and Modeling for Acquisition, Requirements, and Training (SMART) program. The collaboration provides a way for the Army to train its troops to be combat-ready more cost-effectively and with less risk, said Paul Hoeper, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisitional logistics and technology. "Training is dangerous. We need to make it more effective at all levels." Hoeper wants Howitzer-firing simulators that look, sound, feel, and even smell like the real thing. While simulations are getting better, they're not good enough. "If you have a very good imagination and withhold skepticism, you can imagine that you're in the vehicle," Hoeper said. "We need to work harder on the sense of balance, the passage of time, some of the emotional issues soldiers feel when they're really in combat. Years from now, you shouldn't be able to tell the difference." If that conjures up bizarre images of virtual wars fought by virtual warriors, NASA's Venneri has an even more developed view of the kind of simulation he hopes the partnership will achieve. "In 20 years, I'd like to have people walk into a virtual room that would engage all your senses, hearing, touch, and smell," Venneri said. "I would warp people from different parts of the world into that room, like a Star Trek holodeck environment that could transport you anywhere. And then, talking in natural language, you could literally do things in months that would otherwise take you years." http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,33748,00.html ________________________________________________________________________________ no copyright 2000 rolux.org - no commercial use without permission. is a moderated mailing list for the advancement of minor criticism. more information: mail to: majordomo@rolux.org, subject line: , message body: info. further questions: mail to: rolux-owner@rolux.org. archive: http://www.rolux.org