NASA offered $ 70,000 for the design of the Mars meta-universe

NASA is looking for ambitious programmers who are willing and able to come up with the best design of the Martian metaverse for a hefty prize of $ 70,000.

MarsXR is an initiative founded by the US space agency in cooperation with Buendea and Epic Games. The challenge is aimed at game and app developers who want to contribute to the creation of an immersive Martian metaverse with virtual reality (XR) integration.

The challenge itself is to create new environments and scenarios to be used for the MarsXR Operations Support System (XOSS) ecosystem, with the integration of the Unreal Engine 5 gaming platform from Epic Games.

The application deadline is July 26. After a two-month evaluation period, the winner will be announced on September 27, 2022. At the time of writing, about 266 applicants and 25 teams have already joined the challenge.