Big picture, big data: Swiss unveil virtual reality software of universe

Hadrien Gurnel, software engineer EPFL’s Laboratory for Experimental Museology (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone/AP)

The final frontier has rarely seemed closer than this – at least virtually.

Researchers at one of Switzerland’s top universities are releasing open-source beta software on Tuesday that allows for virtual visits through the cosmos, including up to the International Space Station, past the moon, Saturn or exoplanets, over galaxies and well beyond.