NASA Sent Hologram Doctors To ISS To Visit Astronauts

In 2021, a team of hologram doctors was 'holoported' to space to visit astronauts living aboard the International Space Station, NASA has revealed in a new post. Space.com reports: The hologram teams, led by NASA flight surgeon Dr. Josef Schmid and Fernando De La Pena Llaca, CEO of software provider Aexa Aerospace, were the first humans to ever be 'holoported' from Earth to space. 'This is completely new manner of human communication across vast distances,' Schmid said in the statement. 'Furthermore, it is a brand-new way of human exploration, where our human entity is able to travel off the planet. Our physical body is not there, but our human entity absolutely is there.'

'It doesn't matter that the space station is traveling 17,500 mph [28,000 kilometers per hour] and in constant motion in orbit 250 miles [400 km] above Earth, the astronaut can come back three minutes or three weeks later and with the system running, we will be there in that spot, live on the space station,' Schmid added. The medical teams holoported to the station on Oct. 8. Using the Microsoft Hololens Kinect camera and a personal computer with custom Aexa software, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who was on board the station at that time, had a holo-conversation with Schmid and De La Pena's teams. The holograms of the doctors were visible live in the middle of the space station.

So how did it work? The 'holoportation' technology that enabled this event works using specialized image capture technology that reconstructs, compresses and transmits live 3D models of people. This technology couples with the HoloLens, a self-described 'mixed reality headset' that combines sensors, optics and holographic processing tech to allow the wearer to see the hologram images or even enter a 'virtual world.' With the two systems combined, users in orbit can not only see hologram participants, but can also hear and interact with them. The technology is not new, but has never been used in an environment this challenging with users so far apart.

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