In 1989, scientist Dr. J. Storrs Hall pitched the concept of utility fog,
Hall claims you could actually push this technology to the point of creating a virtual world around you.
In Hall's original design, his foglets looked more like snow, not ideal for mimicking a desert mountain.
Hall himself, again the creator of this concept,
And he's saying this in 1995, the same era Hall is pitching utility fog to NASA.