Four NASA astronauts tested out a practical realness kit from Microsoft last calendar month to simulate the conditions of place .
And where better to mimic the essence of microgravity than in a especially project underwater science laboratory ?
The crew of theNEEMO 20(NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations ) underwater mission have been try outHoloLensduring their stoppage at the computer manufacturer ’s research and exploitation research lab , begin last month .
The HoloLens headset feature augmented reality technology , layering a virtual showing onto veridical - creation visuals . This technology will allow extremity of the ascendance meat on Earth to supervise astronauts from a more exact item of view , allowing for literal - fourth dimension emergency brake intervention during procedural experiments .
A HoloLens was aboardthe Dragon spacecraft that unluckily explodedduring launch to the International Space Station in late June this year .
Italian astronautLuca Parmitanoremains confidentthat this subaqueous paradigm will “ still be valuable ” when a HoloLens does make the voyage into orbit .
The full NEEMO 20 gang are Parmitano acting as commander , NASA astronautSerena Auñón , Nipponese astronautNorishige Kanaiand NASA EVA direction office engineerDavid Coan .
diving event into the waters off the coast of Key Largo , Florida , the work party are spending a month plunge to depths of 17 meters ( 45 foot ) underwater to experiment with practice that could be utile during missionary work into deep distance .
One factor of space exploration that will be tested out in NEEMO 20 is the metre time lag experienced by astronauts in communicating with control centers on Earth . tuner waves used for communication can have a extended travel time from Earth . These time delays in communication from Mars , for model , could mean that a control sum on Earth could take as prospicient as 24 minutes to answer to an astronaut .
In previous underwater mission , astronauts travel in a electrical circuit lengthy enough to let ground control to take in images sent and respond accordingly . By the time the astronauts returned to the beginning of the circuit , a reply would already be on its direction back for them to accept .
The HoloLens could pass the necessity of this fatuous task .
dive astronauts will also swim with various weight attached to feign solemnity , from the low sombreness on asteroid to the one - third soberness of Earth found on Mars .
Not all of NEEMO 20 ’s work is for space . The crew will also be analyzing the precious coral discover on the sea beds of Florida ’s sea-coast . As coral is an excellent natural monitor of the consequence of mood variety , samples will be collected for study .
[ H / T : Space.com ]
