This man may be the closest we have to someone living on Mars
He's the software lead for augmented and virtual reality (VR) development at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
What that means is he gets to create VR experiences on Mars, and then live and work in them every day.
"I remember the moment when I realized my pace was actually quickening. I was so excited to get into work that I was actually walking faster," Menzies told Tech Insider at Smithsonian's Future Is Here Festival.
He made his first 3D simulation to get out of a geology test in high school, and he hasn't really stopped since - though the models have gotten much, much better over the years.
VR for the public
Menzies helped develop Destination: Mars, a VR journey to the Red Planet the public can experience at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It features narration from Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon.
All of the images people see in the VR experience are based off real data and photos NASA has taken on Mars over the years. Menzies sees this application as the way the public will experience space travel in the coming decades.
He imagines that when humans land on Mars, people on Earth will strap on a VR headset and be right there with them as "telenauts."
"We're really in a new era of space exploration. Previously, if we launched a mission, there were a few astronauts who would get to go," he said. "But in this new era, everybody gets to go."
VR for scientists
In an early version of OnSight, a VR experience Menzies helped develop for geologists, the team wrote the program in such a way that full landscapes around hills wouldn't load all at one time.
But the second they let geologists test it, he said, everyone went to the top of the hill.
Apparently that's the first thing they're trained to do when they get to a new site. So Menzies had to fix the code so the landscapes would load when the scientists inevitably found the tallest point.
"We really enable geologists to have conversations like they would in the real world. Even if they're in different locations on Earth, they can meet together and walk around like they're in the field," he said. "What we're trying to enable is just normal geology, but in a place that we can't yet send a geologist."
VR for astronauts
Menzies has practically memorized portions of Mars because he's looked at them for so long. He can almost tell if a stone's out of place.
This is why he thinks VR could be unbelievably useful for training astronauts who are going to go to Mars.
Imagine if you were on that first flight out - you'd want to know as much as you could about the landing spot, right? NASA has enough information from its rovers and probes that people like Menzies could recreate that area.
Astronauts could then go through drills and experiments in VR before they get in that rocket for the inaugural journey.
And VR could be an even more comforting way to be able to see their home when they're on Mars, Menzies said. The Red Planet is 250 million miles away; it sure would be nice to reduce astronauts' homesickness.
Menzies thinks these VR projects are just the beginning. Once enough people experience Mars through VR, it will finally become real to them.
"Most people think of Mars as this red, featureless, blurry sphere. But with this type of technology, it stops being that. It becomes an actual place that you can go to, and it has properties like any place. You can go there and have your coffee, or you can go on a date there," he said. "It's a new place. I'm excited to see what people decide to do with that."
You can see Menzies' demonstrate some of the technology at the festival in this video: