Creative Execution

We created kibo360°, an application that replicates the inside of “Kibo”, the Japanese module of the International Space Station with a stunning level of reality and immersion. Actually walking with your smartphone in hand makes you move inside the ship with a feeling of zero-gravity, and you can explore every corner by moving your smartphone in 360 degrees. Users can learn, play, manipulate the equipment as if they were real astronauts, and share their experience on social networks.

The breathtaking level of reality and the accessibility of the app made a deep impression on all users, from young children to JAXA’s astronauts. The feature allowing users to look at the Earth from a window of the ISS and to post their first impression on social networks contributed to the viral spread of the app, exceeding 200.000 downloads. And most importantly, users keep leaving messages expressing their gratitude and expectations towards JAXA.

Space exploration is essential for humanity and educating people about it is very important. As a public institution, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) has a mission of public information and education about its space exploration activities. To achieve that mission, JAXA wanted to make people discover, learn, and feel what it is like to actually be in space. Our idea was to create a mobile application that replicates the inside of “Kibo”, the Japanese module of the International Space Station, and allows users to explore the module as if they were real astronauts.