NASA is adamant on getting augmented reality to space that not only is Microsoft HoloLens launching for the International Space Station (ISS), the space agency has also found a new way to use the device.
Two HoloLens devices will be on board an Orbital Sciences resupply mission scheduled for liftoff on Dec. 3, according to GeekWire.
Back in June, HoloLens headsets were already bound for the ISS as part of the Microsoft-NASA collaboration Sidekick but never made it to their destination. The devices, along with other cargo, were lost when SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket exploded minutes after liftoff.
As Franchise Herald reported then, Microsoft's augmented reality devices were to help astronauts in two different ways.
In "Remote Expert Mode," a special version of Skype would allow astronauts to receive instructions from ground-based experts. In "Procedure Mode," holograms can be projected onto objects to help them complete experiments.
Both uses of Microsoft HoloLens in the ISS are still a go but NASA has reportedly found another one.
"Apparently, keeping track of where things are and how to find them is a big challenge on the space station, even though objects have bar codes on them and are organized with database," MIT Technology Review said.
With that in mind, Jeff Norris, who works for HoloLens projects at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, revealed that they have come up with an app that identifies objects and directs the user to where it's stored.
To see how the augmented reality device would behave on the ISS, the website said they were deployed at the Aquarius underwater research station.
"[NASA] was then able to confirm that, without HoloLens, the tasks being executed at the [ISS] would have taken 'many times as long,'" DigitalTrends said.
Still, Norris said making augmented reality apps entails "enormous challenges" where the app menu is concerned.
"The rules are different when you're now rendering information all around a person," he said.
As part of Sidekick, NASA is sending two Microsoft HoloLens augmented reality headsets to the ISS again on Dec. 3 aboard an Orbital Sciences-run resupply mission.
