Virgin Galactic: Digital Twin

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Launching the interior of a spaceship in the midst of the pandemic.

3,900+ articles published & clips broadcast.

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8.786 billion potential impressions across social media, editorial and broadcast.

Challenge

Virtual reality and the creation of a digital twin was central to designing the interior of the world’s first commercial spaceship. As the pandemic took hold, Virgin Galactic realised that a live press event would be impossible and they needed to find a new way to launch the cabin interior to a global audience.

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Process

During the design of the spaceship interior, our team created a constantly-evolving digital twin of the spaceship interior which lived within a bespoke, immersive VR platform developed specifically for the project. This workflow was employed to facilitate collaborative working across multiple sites, to reduce the need for physical access to the prototype spaceship and to expedite decision-making during the iterative design phases.

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The assets developed during this process — and the confidence built among the teams involved — made it feasible to react quickly to the global pandemic, to pivot away from the planned physical reveal event and to begin working towards a virtual reveal.

The team went on to develop a VIP VR experience for the Meta Quest headsets and a public-facing AR app which launched on iOS and Android app stores.

Client

Virgin Galactic

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Capabilities

VR Experience Design
AR Experience Design
Digital Twin
App development and deployment
UX design
Film production
GGI Animation
Game Engine development
3D CAD rendering
Media campaign deployment

Outcome

An exclusive audience were sent VR headsets, so that the interior could be revealed to the press ahead of the launch, in order to drive the media campaign. An immersive AR app was launched to the public on the day of the reveal to allow Virgin Galactic to share their pioneering experience with as many people as possible.

The core VR experience takes users through eight carefully-curated chapters, from the runway at Spaceport America, to cruising at release altitude, to floating in space above earth. There is a chance to meet the pilots, understand the purpose of the mission and take a detailed look at key design features. Unique stories play out around training, the seat, cabin features, lighting, displays and camera systems, using high-resolution 3D assets, gallery walls and cinema-sized films.

Importantly, the VR experience also provided a host mode, so that the Virgin Galactic team could meet the press and take their guests on personalised guided tours. In the midst of the pandemic, the tours were held from the comfort of living rooms from different corners of the world. Interviews were conducted and recorded by press and bespoke content was captured. This rich media content fuelled the success of the media campaign which followed.

On a mission to democratise space travel, Virgin Galactic wanted to share their pioneering experience with as many people as possible. The app enables anyone with a smartphone to take a tour of Virgin Galactic’s spaceship cabin, through five immersive augmented reality experiences. Users can take a deep-dive into the cabin’s features, as well as learn about the design story with interactive 3D augmented reality models, short films and multimedia experiences.

Over 100 Meta Quest VR headsets were provisioned and shipped across the world to key investors, media and influencers. The AR app launched on Play and Apple stores in time for the interior reveal broadcast on YouTube.

Virgin Galactic: Digital Twin

Launching the interior of a spaceship in the midst of the pandemic.

3,900+ articles published & clips broadcast.

8.786 billion potential impressions across social media, editorial and broadcast.

Challenge

Process

Client

Capabilities

Outcome

Launching the interior of a spaceship in the midst of the pandemic.

The project took eight weeks from concept to completion, resulting in a 5 star rated app and a YouTube reveal video, watched by over 332k people.The rich and immersive nature of the VR and AR application led to a highly successful outreach campaign which generated:

1m+ views of cabin reveal content across VG and RB social channels

10,549 posts – potential reach of 853.6 million

2,454 pieces of coverage generated – potential reach of 7.799 billion

1,488 pieces of broadcast coverage generated – potential reach of 139 million +

3,900+ articles published and clips broadcast – 8.786 billion + potential impressions across social, editorial and broadcast

The VR experience is now being deployed to engage with the future astronaut community. The AR app has been instrumental in driving the reservation campaign known as ‘one small step'.