Microsoft HoloLens Going to Space in 2015
The United States government invested early in the use of Augmented Reality for its soldiers and other military personnel for competitive advantage in the armed conflicts around the world. It’s difficult to quantify the impacts or return on investment from these projects, however, the upcoming introduction of AR into NASA programs may be one of the indirect outcomes of the high level awareness of AR produced in government agencies by these early investments.
Described in this post on the Trove blog, the NASA pilot project code named “Sidekick” aims to test the effectiveness of remote expert assistance for astronauts working on scientific research projects on the International Space Station using Microsoft HoloLens. Scientists on earth will be able to see what they see and guide astronauts through steps in a procedure.
NASA says Project Sidekick “will be used and evaluated during the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 20 expedition set to begin July 21 when a group of astronauts and engineers live in the world’s only undersea research station, Aquarius, for two weeks.”