Microsoft's HoloLens glasses dream of space!

Summary

• The Sidekick project?
• The HoloLens helmet
• Facilitate collaboration on the ground and in the skies
•  And why not further?

The Sidekick project?

It is simply the name of a collaboration between NASA and Microsoft therefore, aiming to use augmented reality like the lMicrosoft HoloLens unettes, in Le goal of operation and space exploration. NASA has started to show a real interest in this type of technology at last spring, when she openly approached the company: Osterhout Design Group, specialized in the manufacture of augmented reality glasses. The goal was to make a pair of high-tech glasses, in order to improve the daily tasks of astronauts, by directly displaying the necessary information on them!

The HoloLens helmet

This augmented reality headset therefore seems to be the most suitable for NASA, which hopes to be able to test very soon on board the ISS. A test was actually planned last SundayBut SpaceX company Falcon 9 rocket carrying the machine (which was not a HoloLens, but a derivative called Sidekick) unfortunately exploded after 2 minutes of flight... For the time being, the American space agency is trying to schedule a new attempt. Sidekick will be used from July 21, as part of a the agency's submarine mission, called NEEMO.

Facilitate collaboration on the ground and in the skies

Two different modes are available: an “expert” for remote use via Skype (also a subsidiary of Microsoft), allows the ground staff to analyze directly from the astronaut's point of view, in real time! , explains NASA. The second, “procedure mode” is used to display holographic illustrations, superimposed on the objects with which it is interacting, in order to know what to do.

 And why not further?

For now, these glasses have yet to arrive on the ISS, in order to undergo a whole battery of tests. But then why not imagine using it to go further? On Mars for example, or outside of our solar system and our galaxy?