EventScope: discovering Mars with internet-based virtual environments

Telepresence is experiencing a place without physically being there. Telepresence interfaces receive information from robots or sensors in distant, hard to reach places. Scientists use telepresence to explore places that are inaccessible to human beings, such as Mars. However, the technology used on such missions is so complex that the missions themselves are as inaccessible to the public as the extreme environments being studied. Subsequently, design and engineering barriers have kept this vast resource off-limits to America's classrooms despite the Internet's widespread proliferation. Existing public telepresence interfaces either do not scale well to worldwide dissemination or do not fully engage school students.