Virtual reality airport tower. Staff working in the virtual reality (VR) airport tower at NASA's Surface Development and Test Facility. This facility, the only one of its kind in 2000, is designed for the testing of new systems for air traffic control. Such new systems cannot be tested in real airports as an error could prove catastrophic. The facility can simulate any airport in the world, and the view from that airport's tower is displayed on the 360 degree bank of screens. Images are handled by supercomputers and the simulations are powered by around 100 processors. This is based at the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, USA.