We propose that a virtual environment is necessary to allow NASA robot engineers and operators to study rover design concepts, develop user interfaces and focus on providing the highest possible level of situational awareness and telepresence possible. The two main areas of research for this virtual environment focus upon: determining the appropriate level of modeling and simulation required for the environment, and the on-going use of the virtual world as a sandbox or testbed for robot experimentation and analysis. We intend to research and develop GameSAT, a game technology based virtual world sandbox to study rover design concepts and perfect the user interfaces, situational awareness and telepresence needed to use those rovers in a lunar mixed human/robot environment. GameSAT is envisioned to interface with existing systems to allow current NASA tools to operate a virtual rover in our simulation, a rover on the test range or the moon seamlessly invisible to the current control tools.
