NASA collaborates with rocket enthusiasts on real-world applications

By Alan Boyle
Science editor, MSNBC
Updated: 10:04 a.m. PT March 30, 2007
Is there such a thing as virtual vertigo? If so, that must have been
what I was feeling as I fell to Earth from the planet Pluto.

Yes, the synthetic world known as Second Life has things that are not
of this world, including floating launch pads, mini-planets, space
shuttles and an international space station. More is on the way:
environments that look and feel like the moon, for instance, or
simulated lava tubes that could help researchers build real-life
bases on the moon or Mars.

The colonization of virtual outer space hints at the shape of things
to come, for NASA as well as less traditional players on the final
frontier. And along the way, the virtual-world pioneers are
encountering some of the same technical and bureaucratic challenges
they deal with in the real world.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17841125/