At E3 this year, any hesitations we had about the prospect of HoloLens were assuredly put to rest with an awesome Minecraft demo we’ll never forget. HoloLens is a radical piece of tech that will — if achieves its objectives — shift the way we think about augmented reality. It’s much different from what everyone and their mother seems to be doing with VR, and apparently even NASA sees value in that.
That’s because in addition to offering emergent productivity and entertainment solutions, the HoloLens is being sent to space, according to MIT Technology Review. However, this isn’t the first time NASA has made this attempt. Rather, the SpaceX rocket that notoriously exploded in late June was equipped with, not one, but two HoloLens units sent to act as companions for ISS workers.
Now NASA wants to give it another go, as the space agency believes HoloLens can spare more time for astronauts, enabling them to forgo traditional text-based instructions when using new technologies and, instead, being able to speak face-to-face with holographic recreations of their adroit coworkers.
This news comes little over a month after Space.com reported that NASA was performing underwater tests to see if the headset was fit for less gravitational settings. The administration was then able to confirm that, without HoloLens, the tasks being executed at the International Space Station would have taken “many times as long.”
It’s clear now that the HoloLens will be an exciting new asset in both the gaming realm and scientific discovery alike. After the headset presumably makes its way to the International Space Station this December, who knows? Maybe I’ll finally be able to bring Cortana to life.
