Mission Handbook

CONTENTS
1.0 Mars: Home Planet for 1 Million

2.0 Mission Overview

3.0 Who should participate?

4.0 Mars Valley Urbanization Challenge

5.0 Technicolor Mars VR Experience

6.0 Non-challenge categories

7.0 Launch Forth

8.0 Building a team

9.0 HP Mars Home Planet Education League

10.0 Resources
HOME PLANET
FOR 1 MILLION
 HOME PLANET
1.0

2.0 FOR 1 MILLION.

Reinvent life on Mars.
3.0 The next giant leap for humankind. We invite imaginative
problem solvers and technology enthusiasts to join us on
HP Mars Home Planet: a universe-changing design,
architecture, engineering, and virtual reality project.
4.0
Powered by HP Z Workstations and NVIDIA® Quadro®
graphics, we will imagine, create and experience a
sophisticated civilization on Mars. A new home for one
5.0 million humans.

Join HP Mars Home Planet to collaborate with the world’s

leading visionaries for a chance to win great prizes and
6.0 have your design included in the ultimate Mars VR
Experience.

Join now: hp.com/go/mars

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0
MISSION OVERVIEW
 MISSION
1.0

2.0 OVERVIEW
HP and NVIDIA® are bringing the greatest minds in the
world together for a first-of-its-kind collaborative effort
3.0 to explore humanity’s future on Mars, in VR.

HP Mars Home Planet is a global project to unite

engineers, architects, designers, artists, and students
4.0 to design an urban area for 1 million people on Mars and
bring it to life through VR.

In the Mars Urbanization Challenge, participants will

5.0 have access to Autodesk design software to build 3D
models of buildings, cities, vehicles, and infrastrucure.

In the Mars VR Experience, participants will use Unreal

6.0 Engine to bring the 3D models to life, with the creative
and technical guidance of Technicolor, and create a virtual
reality simulation of what life on Mars could be like.

7.0 Participants can register at hp.com/go/mars. The first

10,000 registrants will be have access to a Fusion Mars
2030 download code.

8.0
Aug. 2017 Nov. 2017 Mar. 2018 Aug. 2018

b
c

9.0
a

CONCEPT MODELING RENDERING VR EXPERIENCE

VR CO-CREATION LED BY TECHNICOLOR

10.0
WHO SHOULD
PARTICIPATE?
 1.0
WHO SHOULD
2.0 PARTICIPATE?
Every civilization needs the resources and skills of all
its inhabitants. From artists, to architects and engineers,
3.0 bring your unique vision to our future home planet.
Maybe you spend your free time drafting plans for an
ideal smart city. Perhaps you dream of creating an
otherworldly experience in VR. The key requirement?
4.0 Imagination and the ability to give concrete form to
your ideas.

Even if you don’t describe yourself as one of the below,

bring your ideas to the community and with our panel of
5.0
distinguished experts, watch them become (virtual) reality.

6.0

7.0
Mechanical Engineers Industrial Designers
Electrical Engineers Product Designers
Aerospace Engineers Rendering Gurus
Civil Engineers Animators/Riggers
8.0 Structural Engineers Storyboard Artists
Editors Modelers
VR Specialists Texture Artists
Scientists Game Developers
9.0 Enthusiasts Architects
University Students
STEM Students

10.0
MARS VALLEY
URBANIZATION
CHALLENGE
 MARS VALLEY
1.0

2.0 URBANIZATION
3.0
CHALLENGE
Sometime, in the not too distant future, 1 million humans
will live in Mars Valley (Mawrth Vallis), on the planet Mars.
Your mission is to imagine, design, and visualize the cities,
4.0 homes, buildings, shelters, school buses, bicycles,
cars, shopping malls, electrical, water, infrastructure,
amusement parks, and ski resorts that will exist in Mars
Valley to support the 1 million humans living there.
5.0 Inspired by your visions and designs, humankind will
accelerate the colonization of Mars and urbanization of
the first Martian Smart City/Region, Mars Valley.

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0
 PHASES
1.0 Mars Challenges reflect the real-world design process
that spans from conceptual design, to 3D modeling,
to rendering and virtual reality. The three competition
phases are Concept; Modeling; and Rendering.
2.0
MARS VALLEY: CONCEPT PHASE
Imagine and illustrate what Mars Valley will look like
with 1 million humans.
3.0
Create a visual image depicting your invention for a
smart city/region on Mars supporting life for 1 million
humans.

4.0 Submissions can be anything from scanned napkin

sketches with crayons to 3D renderings. Submit a
bitmap image accompanied by a text description
(math encouraged!).
5.0 Design whatever inspires you in the built environment,
from robots to cars to skyscrapers to entire city plans.
This is your opportunity to shape the future of life on
Mars, so tap into your imagination, skills, and experience
6.0 to conceive and illustrate a product, vehicle, building, or
ecosystem that will form the living and working ecosystem
for 1 million humans.

7.0 TIMING | JULY 31 – NOV 3, 2017

Submission: July 31 – Sept 15
Validation: Sept 16 – Oct 6
Judging: Oct 7 – Nov 3
8.0
JUDGING CRITERIA
• Informed by science
• Conforms to technical constraints
9.0 • Creativity will be rewarded
• Clearly visualized
• Accompanied by text/math explanation

10.0
 AWARDS
1.0
1. Jury Award – Smart City Infrastructure:
design the environment where 1 million
people will live and work. Submissions can
2.0 range from single family homes, to electrical
infrastructure, to Mars shopping malls, to
entire city plans. The Jury will select two
winners in this category.
3.0
2. Jury Award – Transportation Systems and
Vehicles: design the future transportation
systems that will be used to commute around
4.0 Mars cities, and to explore and develop the
planet. Submissions can range from personal
bicycles to public transportation systems, to
Mars all-terrain exploration vehicles. The Jury
5.0 will select two winners in this category.
3. Innovation in Architecture
4. Innovation in Engineering
6.0 5. Innovation in Design
6. Innovation in Science
7. Community Award: Smart City Infrastructure
7.0 8. Community Award: Transportation Systems
and Vehicles

8.0

9.0

10.0
 MARS VALLEY: MODELING PHASE
1.0 Design the habitat, environment, and vehicles for
1 million humans on Mars.

Create a 3D model depicting your invention for a smart

2.0
city or region on Mars that supports life for 1 million
humans.
The submission requirement is a 3D model from any
3.0 CAD or 3D modeling software, along with a bitmap image
depicting your model (rendering or screenshot).
3D models will be judged on the criteria identified below,
but not on the rendering quality of the submitted bitmap
4.0 image. Rendering quality will be judged in the next
phase (Rendering Phase).
Design whatever inspires you in the built environment,
5.0 from robots to cars to skyscrapers to entire city
plans. This is your opportunity to shape the future
of life on Mars, so tap into your imagination, skills,
and experience to conceive and illustrate a product,
6.0 vehicle, building, or ecosystem that will form the living
and working ecosystem for 1 million humans.

TIMING | NOV 2017 – MARCH 2018

Submission: Nov 14 – Jan 8
7.0
Validation: Jan 9 – Feb 2
Judging: Feb 3 – March 2

8.0

9.0

10.0
 1.0 MARS VALLEY: RENDERING PHASE
Render the future of life on Mars.
Create a still, animated, real-time, or VR rendering
depicting your invention for a smart city/region on Mars
2.0
that supports life for 1 million humans.
The submission requirement is a bitmap image, video,
or real-time executable, along with the source 2D/3D files.
3.0
TIMING | MARCH 2018 – JUNE 2018
Submission: March 26 – April 25
Validation: April 26 – May 18
4.0 Judging: May 19 – June 8

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0
TECHNICOLOR
MARS VR
EXPERIENCE
 1.0
TECHNICOLOR
2.0 MARS VR
EXPERIENCE
3.0
OVERVIEW
Beginning on July 31, 2017 with the help of earthlings
everywhere and technical leadership from Technicolor,
4.0 we will collectively endeavor to create the world’s first
collaborative Mars VR Experience – depicting the lives
of 1 million humans living on Mars.
Our starting point is 40 square kilometers of high
5.0 quality Mars terrain from the Fusion Mars 2030 VR
project. The terrain modeled by the Fusion team is
based on real NASA-supplied terrain data and imagery
from the Mars Valley region of Mars.
6.0
The Technicolor Mars VR Experience is a community–
based effort, not a competition. Prizes will be awarded to
outstanding contributors who go above and beyond the
7.0 call of duty, as determined by our judges.
Participants will have the opportunity to collaborate
with VR experts from around the world in a first of its
kind effort to co-create a Mars VR Experience.
8.0
PROCESS
The Steering Committee will post official Mars VR
Experience source files in an Unreal Engine format
9.0 and define tasks on the Launch Forth portal.

10.0
 • Any individual or team can volunteer to take
1.0 ownership of a task.
• Upon completion of a task, the individual or team
will upload the required files for review by the
Steering Committee.
2.0
If there is an issue with the files, the Steering Committee
will coordinate directly with the individual/team
responsible to resolve.
3.0 Upon approval, the Steering Committee will merge the
task files/code into the source files, and the master files
will be updated.

4.0 TIMING
August 1, 2017 – August 1, 2018

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0
NON-CHALLENGE
CATEGORIES
 1.0
NON-CHALLENGE
2.0 CATEGORIES
PURPOSE
If you are not interested in competing in the Mars Valley
3.0 Challenge or contributing to the Technicolor Mars VR
Experience, there is still plenty for you to do in HP Mars
Home Planet.

4.0 The truth is, every object on Mars – even its eventual
vegetation and atmosphere – will need to be designed
by humans living on Earth. So get started today with
HP Mars Home Planet.
5.0
THINGS TO DO
Brainstorms are discussion topics with a specific task in
mind. Contribute your ideas to the brainstorm. There
are no wrong answers and you can submit as many
6.0
ideas as you want. Other community members may
provide their feedback and notes to your ideas to help
improve them or take them one step closer to reality.
7.0 Sparks is a virtual playground where we encourage
users to come up with anything they want to be included
in Mars: conceptual designs, models, or renderings.
A user is free to add anything that may be beneficial to
8.0 our Mars life. Outstanding submissions may be pulled
into our final Mars VR Experience!

LIFESTYLE
9.0 As humans become Martians, we have to think through
a variety of things to help us not only survive, but also
thrive! We will run several brainstorms to think through
the different aspects of making Mars a home for
10.0 ex-Earth inhabitants.
 1.0 FARMING
Martians will need to eat! Help humankind figure out
how Martians will grow food and other vital food sources.
Will there be cows and chickens on Mars?
2.0
ROBOTICS
As our new planet develops, so will our technologies
and support systems. Autonomous robotic help is already
3.0 taking off on Earth now, but imagine all it can do by the
time we arrive on Mars. Let’s start planning how to utilize
these technologies for our new life.

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0
LAUNCH
FORTH
 1.0
LAUNCH
2.0 FORTH
OVERVIEW
Launch Forth is a product development community made
3.0 up of designers, engineers, and solvers working together
to develop solutions for design and engineering
challenges big and small. Launch Forth partners with
some of the biggest companies in the world, like HP, GE,
4.0 and others to solve engineering problems or envision new
solutions to challenges they face. Launch Forth also
provides a space for users to submit their own ideas or
challenges and partner with other community members
5.0 to bring them to life.

MEMBER PROFILE
Setting up an account and profile is easy. Visit hp.com/go/
6.0 mars and click “Register.” You will be taken to
launchforth.io/hpmars to complete the profile with
your background information and interests.
Start exploring and participating.
7.0
TEAM PROFILE
Team Entries (directly linked to a Challenge) can be
personalized by team members on the Entry Overview
8.0 section. The Overview section is a rich text format area
and can have any text, links, images, or videos your
team would like to include. Team Entries have their own
URL, which can be shared out.
9.0 COLLABORATION
Once you have an account, check out some of the projects
that we are working on. There are all different ways to
participate and collaborate with the community.
10.0 Discussions are just that, discussions! Jump in and
 1.0 talk with other users or start your own topic thread.
Brainstorms are discussion topics with a specific task in
mind. Contribute your ideas to the brainstorm. There
are no wrong answers and you can submit as many
2.0 ideas as you want. Other community members may
provide their feedback and notes to your ideas to help
improve them or take them one step closer to reality.
Launch Forth is an open innovation community. All
3.0 the members work together in a positive space to help
grow their interests and skills.

CHALLENGES
4.0 Launch Forth Challenges are time-bound competitions
with prizes awarded to the top entries.

SCORING
5.0 Winners of challenges are determined by different
methods depending on the categories.

COMMUNITY AWARDS (OPEN VOTING)

6.0 Community Awards are decided by the Launch
Forth Community. All validated entries are open to
the community’s review during the Voting period
of the Challenge. The entries that receive the most
‘Votes’ are the winners.
7.0
JURY AWARDS
Jury Awards are decided by a selected panel of expert
judges. The winners are determined by these judges
8.0 who select the entry that meets all challenge
requirements and solves the challenge in the most
innovative, smartest way.

9.0 DRAFT SUBMISSION

During the Submission Entry period of a Challenge, a
user or team can start their entry and use the space as a
workspace to store their in-progress files and notes. This
10.0 is also a community workspace where team members
 1.0 can have private discussions about their entry. Once a
user finds their entry complete, they can submit their
final entry.

2.0 NOTIFICATION OF WINNERS

Winners of Challenges are announced on the Launch
Forth platform. Individual winners will be contacted via
email (with the email associated to their Launch Forth
3.0 account) to notify winners and work out fulfillment details.

RESTRICTIONS
Launch Forth is a global platform and minimum user
age is 13 years old to participate and 18 years old
4.0 to enter a Challenge. Terms and Conditions for our
Challenges may vary with age and location restrictions.

LEADERBOARD
5.0 When the Submission Validation period of a Challenge
ends, all valid user entries are open to the Voting period.
During this time, the community votes on the entries
they feel are the best solution to the Challenge. During
6.0 this voting period, which lasts from 2-4 weeks, there is a
Results Leaderboard where users can view the entries’
status and total votes.

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0
BUILDING
A TEAM
 1.0
BUILDING
2.0 A TEAM
If you’re an architect, engineer, scientist, student, 3D
artist, or game developer, you probably already pursue
3.0 challenging, creative outlets in your spare time. Direct
that energy into HP Mars Home Planet.
With Challenges on Launch Forth, a group of users can
come together as a team to create a joint entry. It’s a
4.0 simple process. The Team Lead will be the user that starts
the entry. From there, you can add as many users as you
would like to join your team and collaborate. Teammates
will have a private discussion area that allows private
5.0 collaboration. The team’s entry Overview section can be
personalized by the team to include whatever information
they would like. If a team entry is chosen as a winner of
the challenge, the Team Lead would be awarded the prize.
6.0
SIZE
Teams have no size limit.

7.0 TEAM LEADER RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership is important to any successful team.
Whether you’re a student or a professional, you can
lead the team that develops the first soccer field on Mars
8.0 or solves the problem of emergency transportation.

The Team Lead is responsible for creating the initial

challenge entry and inviting your team members to
9.0 join. As the Team Lead is the official ‘owner’ of the
submission, you are responsible to make sure your
team’s final entry is valid by the entry date.

10.0
 1.0 PARENTS AND GUARDIANS
The minimum age for a user on Launch Forth is 13.
Only users 18+ may be eligible to win a Challenge.
Users under 18 are encouraged to participate in
2.0 Discussions, Brainstorms, and Sparks.

PARTICIPANT SKILLS
Anyone can join and participate as a team.
3.0
TIME COMMITMENT
Challenges run for an average of 8-12 weeks depending
on the scope of the work. There is no required time
commitment, just as long as it takes for your team to
4.0
complete your Challenge entry.

QUICK START GUIDE

Congratulations on building a team! Here’s what you
5.0 need to know to get started:
01. Visit hp.com/go/mars to register.
02. You’ll be instructed to create your
6.0 Launch Forth account.
03. The Team Lead starts a Team Entry on a Challenge
– invite your teammates. Remember, everyone
needs to have their own account.
7.0 04. Explore the Mars community. Bounce around ideas
in a Brainstorm and get inspired. Participate in
discussion boards or start your own thread.
05. Note important dates for the Challenge.
8.0 06. Work together on an innovative solution for one of
the challenges we’ll face on Mars.
07. Submit your final entry.
08. Be social – share your ideas with the rest of Earth
9.0 with #HPMarsHomePlanet
09. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winners.
10. Have more ideas to contribute? Participate in the
next Challenge!
10.0
 HP MARS
HOME PLANET
EDUCATION
LEAGUE
 1.0
HP MARS
2.0 HOME PLANET
EDUCATION
3.0
LEAGUE
Today’s students are critical to the future urbanization
4.0 of Mars. Their ideas and designs are based on the latest
curricula for engineering, architecture, and design
technologies; they are tomorrow’s professionals for Earth
and beyond. The cool designs they create in HP Mars Home
5.0 Planet could be used by future generations in Mars Valley!
Across the globe, universities participate in the HP
Mars Home Planet Education League to create unique
6.0 solutions in a global community of future professionals.
Show your competitive edge on the HP Mars Home Planet
leaderboard and see how your school stacks up against
the competition.
7.0 The HP Mars Home Planet Education League offers a
great opportunity for students to work alongside
professionals and other universities, with access to
resources such as master classes, video links, and
8.0 Mars factoids.
These schools and universities are recognized as leaders in
math, science, and technology. If you are interested in
9.0 joining the HP Mars Home Planet Education League,
contact marsleague@hp.com.
You can also join the HP Mars Home Planet Education
League as a student ambassador. To get started,
10.0 sign up at hp.com/go/mars and you’ll receive exclusive
access to tools and resources.
RESOURCES
 1.0
BROUGHT TO
2.0 YOU BY:
3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0
 1.0 LEARN MORE
For the latest, up-to-date information on
HP Mars Home Planet, please visit hp.com/go/mars

2.0 CONTACT
Have a question, comment, concern, or great idea?
Send it to mars@hp.com.

3.0 For specific questions regarding the HP Mars Home

Planet Education League, please send inquiries to
marsleague@hp.com.

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0
 For the latest, up-to-date information on
HP Mars Home Planet, please visit:
hp.com/go/mars

© 2017 HP Development Company, L.P. NVIDIA and Quadro are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S and other countries. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Image includes Biosphere 2 at The University of Arizona.