Aerospace in Extended Reality (XR)

Have you ever dreamed of exploring the International Space Station, assembling and launching a rocket into space, or controlling the movement of a Mars rover? Now you can!

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, both of which are Extended Reality (XR) technologies, are already in use in aerospace engineering and related fields for navigation, training, simulation, entertainment, operations, manufacturing, and more. AR enhances the real world by superimposing digital information on the user’s view, while VR immerses the user in a fully computer-generated 3D environment. XR also holds promise for aerospace education, as it enables unique and powerful ways for teaching a wide variety of aerospace concepts and topics.

MIT’s AeroAstro Department invites you to join us for Aerospace in Extended Reality, an introduction to XR in general and to aeronautics and astronautics through XR in particular. In this FPOP, you will tour various XR spaces on campus, learn the basics of aerospace with interactive XR applications developed at AeroAstro and beyond, join VR/AR@MIT Club members in a mini-hackathon to develop your own XR applications, and take part in an XR ‘scavenger hunt’ around campus. Your journey will be accompanied by students, faculty, and instructional staff who will share with you their experiences at MIT in general and in Course 16 in particular.

Dates: Tuesday, August 19 – Saturday, August 23, 2025
Number of participants: 24
Cost: $0