3pointD.com

NASA, the U.S. space agency, is getting ready to launch its own exploration into virtual space. NASA’s Learning Technologies arm has issued an intramural call for proposal ideas [UPDATE: now postponed, oddly] for the development of a massively multiplayer online game that is intended to be “the front-end of a larger synthetic environment.” The program is funded to the tune of $1 million a year for fiscal years 2007, 2008 and 2009. [UPDATE: I’ve changed the headline from “earmarks” to “budgets” per Daniel Laughlin’s comment below.] While the call for proposals is internal only, “Each proposing team must include a partner with commercial-quality game development experience. It is expected that this requirement will necessitate partnering with external organizations and that the majority of funding will be used for game development.” [Emphasis added. And thanks to Troy McLuhan of the International Spaceflight Museum in Second Life for sending over the news.]

While the Web page doesn’t say so specifically, NASA is apparently compiling its own list of potential outside developers for the project, and Daniel Laughlin, the contact for the project, is also looking at Second Life as a possible platform. For more information, you can download a PDF of the 16-page CFP. It describes the MMO as an educational project “with the primary goal of engaging young people in NASA’s mission. It also mentions that several projects will be taken on in the first year, and then a single project will be chosen from among those to receive the balance of the funding. So whether you’re an SL developer, a Multiverse world-maker or some other kind of MMOist, strap on your oxygen tanks, and email your space credentials to Daniel.D.Laughlin [at] nasa [dot] gov. Zero-gravity virtual world here we come! What a fantastic project. I love when I get to use the “space” tag on 3pointD. Go, NASA!

Once again, it’s time for another Metaverse Meetup, the more-or-less monthly real-world rendezvous we’ve been putting on in New York for anyone interested in the emerging set of technologies we call the metaverse (and for a few people who didn’t know they were interested but who we’ve press-ganged into attending as well), arranged by Jerry Paffendorf. This one, being held Friday, March 30, comes hot on the heels of the Virtual Worlds 2007 conference, where Jerry and I and a mess of other virtual world luminaries, pundits and devs will be speaking. The location hasn’t quite been pinned down yet, but if possible we’ll hold it at Lit, which is described by the Village Voice as a “cozy den of iniquity on Second Avenue and East 5th Street.” Sounds good to me. The last one was good fun, and these are only growing, plus, a lot of interesting people will be in town for the conference. Not to be missed.