Overview
Created by Framestore in partnership with Lockheed Martin and creative agency McCann New York, Field Trip to Mars is the first-ever headset-free group virtual reality vehicle experience. A classic yellow school bus was retrofitted with transparent 4K LCD screens in every window, replacing the real-world view of Washington, D.C. with a synchronized journey across the surface of Mars — no headsets or glasses required.
The project launched at the 2016 U.S.A. Science and Engineering Festival as the centrepiece of Lockheed Martin's Generation Beyond STEM initiative, designed to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.
Technology
The bus windows used a layered display system: switchable security film glass combined with custom 4K LCD panels built in South Korea. When passengers boarded, the LCD screens displayed a white image, rendering them transparent and showing the real streets outside. When the experience began, an electrical current turned the switchable film opaque, LED backlights illuminated, and the Martian environment appeared on the screens.
Using Unreal Engine, Framestore constructed a 200-square-mile virtual worldspace mapped to the real street layout of Washington, D.C. An industrial laser surface velocimeter — originally designed for conveyor belt measurement — was paired with an Arduino kit to deliver millisecond-level bus speed feedback. Combined with real-time GPS, inertial sensors, a compass, and a velocity laser, the system translated the bus's exact position and movement into the virtual world, creating a seamless portal effect.
The bus carried six rack-mounted gaming PCs, its own private network, an A/C unit, and a diesel generator to power the entire system independently.
Impact
On its inaugural outing on April 15, 2016, videos of the experience were viewed over 2.5 million times and generated more than 120 million impressions. The bus trended on Facebook for over 24 hours, with social conversation spreading to more than 50 countries.
The campaign became the single most awarded piece of work at Cannes Lions 2016, earning 19 Lions across 11 categories — including Gold for Digital Installations and Data Visualisation, Silver for Experiential Marketing, and Bronze for Innovation, Technical Achievement, and VR Experience. It also won four D&AD Awards, 20 One Show Pencils, Adweek's Gravity Award (Project Isaac Awards' highest honour), a 4A's Technical Achievement award, and an AdAge Creativity Award.
After a two-year tour inspiring over 100,000 future explorers across the United States, the bus found its permanent home at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
