Tech Titans: Microsoft

Tech Titans: Microsoft — page 9
SCIENTISTS WORK ON MARS Like the team at Case Western Reserve scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL in California recognized how the HoloLens could help them In their case the device could assist in studying the planet Mars In 2015 researchers at JPL partnered with Microsoft to develop software for the HoloLens called OnSight With OnSight scientists can put on a mixed-reality headset and walk around Mars’s surface from their offices on Earth The three-dimensional holographic images of Mars come from data collected by the Curiosity rover The rover landed on Mars in August 2012 It is a robotic vehicle that travels over Mars’s surface and collects samples of Martian rocks and soil The rover is equipped with advanced instruments for scientific study Its onboard laboratory can analyze soil and rock samples which can tell scientists about the planet’s climate and geology Part of the rover’s mission is to determine whether Mars has ever been capable of supporting microbes Before the HoloLens technology scientists had to study the rover’s data from Mars on a computer screen Now they can strap on a HoloLens and experience 12