The National Geographic Channel, fresh off its sale to Fox, is now focusing on creating premium original content. Its first effort: a fact-based dramatization of what it might be like to send the first human visitors to Mars in the 2030s. As part of that effort, the company has taken over an empty lot in downtown Manhattan and seeded it with a collection of interconnected domes meant to evoke what the first habitations on Mars might look like.

The place is set up as if it were a recruitment center for Mars-bound astronauts. And the hardware inside is set up to allow visitors to experience a bit of what it might be like to arrive on Mars through some pretty impressive virtual reality hardware.

The press got a chance to check things out today as part of the launch of the miniseries, entitled simply Mars. Everyone involved in it, including the large panel of the technical consultants on hand to talk about the program, said the emphasis was on making it as fact-based and realistic as possible. We'll have a discussion of their efforts a bit closer to the program's airing. For now, we'll focus on the Earth-bound Mars experience that National Geographic has put in place in Manhattan.

The exhibit, which runs through Saturday, starts off with the real Martian pioneers: the robots. Scale models of Sojourner, Spirit/Opportunity, and Curiosity show just how much we've advanced since we started sending mobile hardware to the Red Planet. These rovers, along with hardware like the orbiting HiRISE camera, have built the case that Mars was once a watery planet and preserves the remains of many distinct environments from its early history. That in turn makes the case for further exploration, both to identify potential useful resources on the present Mars and to search for hints of life in Mars' distant past.

But it's the room that follows that sets the exhibit apart. While space suits from the fictional crew line the walls, the center is taken up by a pair of seats hung on cables. Visitors can strap in, put on some virtual reality goggles, and be treated to the sights and sensations of a Mars landing.

This is apparently the first commercial cable-based VR experience, and it's pretty fun. It's not interactive—the hardware and visuals run through a set program, regardless of any actions you might take when strapped in. But it is immersive, as you get to experience a virtual craft shuddering through descent and then soaring over the Martian landscape. The focus on realism was given a break in order to render the craft zipping through a canyon before reaching its landing site, but we'll forgive them.

John Timmer

John Timmer

John Timmer

John Timmer

John Timmer

John Timmer

John Timmer

John Timmer

John Timmer

John Timmer

John Timmer

John Timmer

That's not the end of the VR on site, though. The next room contains a series of highly specialized treadmills, originally designed to help injured patients rehabilitate. Thanks to a pair of neoprene shorts and a series of zippers, your lower body gets encased in an air-tight bubble that then inflates, lifting you partly off the treadmill. After calibrating against your weight, the amount of lift can simulate the reduced gravity of Mars. Adding VR goggles enables the hardware to take you on a virtual stroll across the Red Planet.

This is again an immersive experience, but not an interactive one. The treadmill only goes in one direction and so does the imagery; no detours are allowed. You can get more hands-on with an exhibit that lets you slip your finger into a glove that extends into a chamber kept at ambient Martian pressure if you want the experience of how space suits make every-day tasks a real challenge.

If this is your thing, you also get the chance to pick up a cardboard phone-holder that you can strap on your face. National Geographic has put together a set of Web videos that will allow you to take the VR experience home with you. Just point your phone at the right URL and put it on your face.

If you have kids who are into space, the exhibit will probably be an amazing experience for them. If you're just curious about the capabilities of virtual reality hardware, it's probably worth a visit as well. It runs through this Saturday at the corner of Canal and Varick Streets. You can't miss the big white domes.

Listing image by John Timmer