Standing On Psyche
Tommy Desjardins
January 12th, 2026
Major: 3D Digital Design
Genre/Medium: 3D digital art displayed on a physical projector wall.
About the work:
Standing on Psyche invites visitors to step onto the surface of the distant metallic asteroid Psyche. Projected across a panoramic wall, visitors see the mission from an entirely new perspective. This interactive environment recreates Psyche’s rugged landscape and the orbiting spacecraft exploring it. The exhibit combines many working theories of what Psyche’s surface might look like. This artistic rendering of the asteroid shows a gravel-like regolith covering solid rocky ground. Craters from ancient impacts with other asteroids form steep valleys, and occasionally reveal bright patches of raw metal buried just beneath the rocky surface. The immersive display uses Unreal Engine’s real-time rendering technology to simulate Psyche’s extreme environment. Low gravity, stark lighting, and the subtle glint of metal-rich terrain are simulated in a realistic game world. This is part one of a long term project. Future development will be done to include the following details and features. The exhibit is also designed for interaction. Through their mobile devices, visitors can connect directly to the simulation, using their phone’s sensors to act as scientific tools. For example, a flashlight, scanner, or spectrometer. Each visitor’s input updates simultaneously on the wall and contributes to the collective experience. Standing on Psyche is part of NASA’s ongoing effort to inspire curiosity about our solar system and to share the excitement of exploring worlds beyond Earth. It showcases how modern visualization and interactive design can bring NASA’s missions closer to the public, transforming data and research into a tangible experience.
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