Pasadena’s JPL Creates a Whole New Way to Look at Mars: From the Ground Up

Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Microsoft’s HoloLens have teamed up to create a mixed-reality guided tour of Mars that kicked off last Sunday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

In a statement from Pasadena’s JPL, “Destination: Mars” uses real imagery taken by NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover to let users explore the Red Planet’s surface via HoloLens, Microsoft’s hybrid reality headgear which allows real and digital objects to exist simultaneously.

“The origin of ‘Destination: Mars’ is part of what makes it so authentic and unique,” JPL’s Jeff Norris said.  Norris, who heads up JPL’s Ops Lab, stated, “Everything you see in the experience came directly from our spacecraft.”

With the space program still years away from sending a human to the Red Planet, this virtual guided tour gives guests a taste of what astronauts could expect when they touch down on the Martian surface. JPL says the attraction will remain open until January 1, 2017.

The virtual tour features well-known NASA figures, such as Buzz Aldrin, the pilot of Apollo 11 and the second man to walk on the Moon and Erisa Hines, JPL’s driver for the Curiosity rover.

“Technology like HoloLens leads us once again toward exploration,” Aldrin said in the press release. “It’s my hope that experiences like ‘Destination: Mars’ will continue to inspire us to explore.”

The collaboration between Microsoft and JPL will allow HoloLens technology to be applied in a variety of innovative ways and lets researchers work in a way that combines images of reality with the convenience of virtual technology.

“We’re thrilled to partner with NASA JPL in enabling a whole new way for its scientists to study Mars via Microsoft HoloLens, said Scott Erickson, general manager of the HoloLens program, he continues, “We’re excited to finally offer the public a glimpse into NASA’s use of this transformative technology,”

For more information about “Destination: Mars,” visit:

https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/things-to-do/destination-mars.aspx