Overview
Titans of Space PLUS was built by a single developer, Drash, working under the label DrashVR, over more than ten years of continuous development beginning in 2013. The original Titans of Space was the top-rated experience on the old Oculus Share site for several months — one of VR's earliest breakout educational applications. The PLUS version, which launched on Meta Quest in December 2019 and exited Steam Early Access simultaneously, is the definitive iteration, adding the Zero-Gravity EVA mode, the Flying Professor Alien tour guide, and full Quest standalone support.
The premise is simple and transformative: just how big is the universe? The experience places you in a miniature spacecraft cockpit with large windows and an interactive dashboard, then takes you through a tour of every planet, major moon, dwarf planet, asteroid, and some of the largest known stars. Everything has been fact-checked. The scale of what you are looking at is the point — our Sun, which feels enormous from Earth, is revealed to be a pale dwarf compared to hypergiants like VY Canis Majoris, which would extend beyond Jupiter's orbit if placed at the centre of our solar system.
The Awe Response: Why This Is the Go-To VR Demo for Teachers
Since 2013, Titans of Space has been the experience VR advocates reach for when introducing someone to what VR can do. UploadVR gave it their highest-ever score (5/5): "This project belongs on every headset and comes with the highest recommendation I've ever given VR software. I believe it should be experienced at least once by every person you'd ever want to understand both the scale of the universe and the educational power of VR technology." A teacher using it with 4th and 5th grade students wrote on the DrashVR site: "Their concept of space is visibly different. Student conversations are deeper, their engagement is higher." The awe response to stellar scale in VR produces a qualitatively different understanding of cosmological size than watching a YouTube video or looking at a textbook diagram — and this is the experience that demonstrates it most purely.
Features & Modes
🛸
Guided Tour (40+ bodies)
Self-paced tour stopping at every planet, major moon, dwarf planet, and largest known stars. Curated photos and facts at each stop. Optional comfort mode for motion-sensitive students.
👽
Flying Professor Alien
110 minutes of narrated, fact-checked tour guide content. Enthusiastically presents everything in the tour. English with subtitles. Teachers can record their own presentations in the teacher's voice.
📏
Side-by-Side Comparisons
"How big does Mars look next to Earth?" "Which is bigger: our Moon or Pluto?" The dashboard surfaces instant visual comparisons between any two celestial bodies in the tour.
🌏
Real Distance View
"How big does the Sun look from Mercury?" "How big does Jupiter look from Io?" Shifts perspective to show the apparent size of bodies from each other's vantage points.
🚀
Gravity Probe
Launch a small space probe in any direction to feel the difference in gravitational pull between bodies. An interactive physics demonstration embedded within the tour.
👷
Zero-Gravity EVA
Float out of the cockpit and thrust freely through space. Approach moons up close, view surface labels and points of interest, and hold planets in your hands. Hand tracking supported on Quest — no controllers needed.
Additional features: Alternate planet maps (radar, elevation, enhanced colour), engaging original soundtrack (can be switched off), sitting and standing support, 8 language options (EN, FR, DE, ES, PT, RU, JA, ZH), individual finger tracking on Valve Index, flatscreen PC mode (no headset required).
School Deployment Support
NGSS Lesson Plans, Volume Licensing, and MDM Deployment
Titans of Space PLUS is one of the very few VR education applications reviewed on The XR School with dedicated school infrastructure support. DrashVR offers: NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) aligned lesson plans for use in K–12 and higher education; volume licensing for multi-seat school deployments; MDM (Mobile Device Management) deployment support for schools managing fleets of Quest headsets centrally. Teachers can also record their own audio presentations within the experience in place of the Flying Professor Alien narration — directly substituting the generic tour guide with the actual classroom teacher's voice and pedagogical framing. This level of school-ready infrastructure is exceptional for an application built by a single developer.
Curriculum Value
Astronomy / Physics content
9.6
Awe / emotional impact
9.8
School deployment readiness
9.0
All-ages accessibility
9.4
Replay / ongoing engagement
5.4
Some Feature Bugs on Quest: Check Before Deployment
Several Meta Quest users have reported that some features show as greyed out or broken depending on headset model and version — specifically the Gravity Probe and Real Distance View buttons on some Quest 3S units, and alternative planet maps displaying placeholder images rather than the intended informative content. The developer is active in the community and aware of these issues, with a significant update promised. Teachers should trial the full tour on the specific headset model to be deployed before relying on those interactive features in a lesson.
What Critics and Teachers Say
UploadVR (5/5)Highest rating ever given
"Titans of Space Plus is the purest example of everything VR can achieve. This project belongs on every headset and comes with the highest recommendation I've ever given VR software."
Classroom teacher (DrashVR site)Teaching impact
"I'm using this to help my 4th/5th grade students experience what they can only imagine. Their concept of space is visibly different. Student conversations are deeper, their engagement is higher."
Windows CentralBest Kids Learning 2020
Named Best Exploration Game to Help Your Kids Learn in 2020.
6DOF Reviews (honest critique)Fair limitation
"Titans of Space is like an enjoyable IMAX movie at a museum. It's educational, a bit jaw-dropping at times, and worth the price of admission, but once it's over there's nothing else to do."
Meta Quest player (long-term user)Returning visitor
"I remember playing an early version of this for Oculus back in the days (10-12 years ago). Absolutely fell in love with it, and how it made my sense of awe of the solar system and the universe grow immensely. Experiencing how small our huge sun is in comparison to the largest suns is just plain epic."
Strengths and Limitations
Strengths
- UploadVR 5/5 — highest rating ever given by the publication
- 93% Steam positive from 176 reviews
- 40+ fact-checked celestial bodies with 110 min narrated content
- Zero-Gravity EVA: hold planets, float to moons, hand tracking
- Side-by-side comparisons, Real Distance View, Gravity Probe
- NGSS lesson plans, volume licensing, MDM support
- Teachers can record their own narration
- All ages • KS1 to Post-16 • 8 language options
- Flatscreen PC mode (no headset required for introduction)
- Built by a solo developer over 10+ years of love and refinement
Considerations
- Some Quest features (Gravity Probe, planet maps) bugged on some models
- Limited replay value once the full tour is complete
- No multiplayer — each headset experiences independently
- Tour guide voice (English only) — subtitles for other languages
- Visual fidelity reflects indie solo development, not AAA production
