ESA has created a space-inspired virtual environment to enable its workforce to experience the COP27 climate summit – which is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt – without the environmental cost of travelling.
During the conference, hundreds of ESA staff from across its European sites immersed themselves in the digital environment. They accessed the metaverse on their laptops or smartphones, or by wearing virtual reality headsets, which were connected over the internet and by satellite 5G.
Engineers at ESA’s 5G/6G Hub – which is located at the agency’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications in the UK – connected people to the metaverse using its next-generation technologies.
In this demonstration’s first scenario, a direct connection was established between the headset and ESA’s metaverse showcase using the ESA 5G/6G Hub’s private terrestrial 5G network. Next, the connection was rerouted via a satellite, demonstrating the integration of communications networks on the ground and in space.
The combination of the private 5G network and the satellite network worked seamlessly to provide continuous connectivity with the virtual environment.