Project Eagle

Last updated
Project Eagle
Developer(s) Blackbird Interactive
Composer(s) Paul Ruskay
Release27 November 2018

Project Eagle is an interactive art demo of a colony on Mars, developed by Blackbird Interactive in collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. [1] It was released on Steam on 27 November 2018, in honor of the successful InSight landing.

Contents

Production

Project Eagle was built in the Unity (Game Engine) and utilizes design elements similar to that of the RTS game Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak , including the sensors manager view and camera systems.

The Martian terrain was generated using radar data from NASA's HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. [2]

Project Eagle is set in 2117 in a hypothetical future after the first human colonists arrive on Mars in the year 2034. [3] [4] The fictional "Eagle Base" is located at the foot of Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons), in Quad 51 of Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater, near the site of the Curiosity rover landing. The Curiosity landing site is marked with a plinth in Project Eagle. [4]

2017 D.I.C.E. Summit

Project Eagle was presented on stage at D.I.C.E. 2017 by NASA's Dr. Jeff Norris, and BBI's CEO Rob Cunningham and CCO Aaron Kambeitz. The talk took place directly after the conference keynote speech by Jeffrey Kaplan from Blizzard Entertainment. [5] There, Jeff Norris said: "We wanted to publicly exhibit a project that shows what this medium could do for inspiring space exploration". [6]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mars Science Laboratory</span> Robotic mission that deployed the Curiosity rover to Mars in 2012

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed Curiosity, a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The overall objectives include investigating Mars' habitability, studying its climate and geology, and collecting data for a human mission to Mars. The rover carries a variety of scientific instruments designed by an international team.

<i>Homeworld 2</i> 2003 video game

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<i>Homeworld</i> 1999 real-time strategy computer game

Homeworld is a real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Studios on September 28, 1999, for Windows. Set in space, the science fiction game follows the Kushan exiles of the planet Kharak after their home planet is destroyed by the Taiidan Empire in retaliation for developing hyperspace jump technology. The survivors journey with their spacecraft-constructing mothership to reclaim their ancient homeworld of Hiigara from the Taiidan, encountering a variety of pirates, mercenaries, traders, and rebels along the way. In each of the game's levels, the player gathers resources, builds a fleet, and uses it to destroy enemy ships and accomplish mission objectives. The player's fleet carries over between levels and can travel in a fully three-dimensional space within each level rather than being limited to a two-dimensional plane.

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Gale is a crater, and probable dry lake, at 5.4°S 137.8°E in the northwestern part of the Aeolis quadrangle on Mars. It is 154 km (96 mi) in diameter and estimated to be about 3.5–3.8 billion years old. The crater was named after Walter Frederick Gale, an amateur astronomer from Sydney, Australia, who observed Mars in the late 19th century. Mount Sharp is a mountain in the center of Gale and rises 5.5 km (18,000 ft) high. Aeolis Palus is the plain between the northern wall of Gale and the northern foothills of Aeolis Mons. Peace Vallis, a nearby outflow channel, 'flows' down from the hills to the Aeolis Palus below and seems to have been carved by flowing water. Several lines of evidence suggest that a lake existed inside Gale shortly after the formation of the crater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Sharp</span> Martian mountain

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">N165</span> Rock on Mars

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Matijevic (rock)</span> Rock on Mars

Jake Matijevic is a pyramidal rock on the surface of Aeolis Palus, between Peace Vallis and Aeolis Mons, in Gale crater on the planet Mars. The approximate site coordinates are: 4.59°S 137.44°E.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bathurst Inlet (rock)</span> Rock on the surface of Aeolis Palus on Mars

Bathurst Inlet is a rock on the surface of Aeolis Palus, between Peace Vallis and Aeolis Mons, in Gale crater on the planet Mars. The rock was encountered by the Curiosity rover on the way from Bradbury Landing to Glenelg Intrigue on September 30, 2012 and was named after Bathurst Inlet, a deep inlet located along the northern coast of the Canadian mainland. The "approximate" site coordinates are: 4.59°S 137.44°E.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hottah (Mars)</span> Rock outcrop on the surface of Aeolis Palus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Link (Mars)</span> Rock outcrop on Mars

Link is a rock outcrop on the surface of Aeolis Palus, between Peace Vallis and Aeolis Mons, in Gale crater on the planet Mars. The outcrop was encountered by the Curiosity rover on the way from Bradbury Landing to Glenelg Intrigue on September 2, 2012, and was named after a significant rock formation in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The "approximate" site coordinates are: 4.59°S 137.44°E.

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Homeworld is a series of real-time strategy video games created by Relic Entertainment. Relic Entertainment developed the first two Homeworld games. The series then spent over a decade in dormancy until Gearbox Software acquired the franchise in 2012 and tasked Blackbird Interactive to develop Homeworld 3, the third mainline installment of the franchise, and the spin-off game Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. Homeworld Mobile was released in 2022.

References

  1. "Homeworld: Deserts Of Kharak's Creators Worked With NASA On A Cool Mars Project". Kotaku.com. 21 February 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-03-22. Retrieved 2017-03-22.
  2. "Project Eagle". Blackbird Interactive. 2017-02-22. Archived from the original on 2017-03-22. Retrieved 2017-03-22.
  3. Donnelly, Joe (20 February 2017). "Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak dev partners with NASA to build interactive Mars colony". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  4. 1 2 "DICE 2017: Homeworld Creators Reveal Project Eagle in Collaboration with NASA's JPL - IGN". 22 February 2017. Archived from the original on 7 April 2024. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  5. "Five Additional Speakers Cover Mars Exploration And Vr". Dicesummit.org. Archived from the original on 2017-03-22. Retrieved 2017-03-22.
  6. Tach, Dave (2017-02-24). "Video games can and should inspire entire societies to do better". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2017-03-22. Retrieved 2017-03-22.