How VR And AR Help In Space Exploration

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are not new terms anymore and have become the major buzzwords in almost every industry now. Whether it is health, education, law enforcement, construction, manufacturing, media or games, they are almost everywhere. And surprisingly, they have entered into space as well.

Augmented Reality is so much more than the entertainment. With the use and implementation of sensor information, the safety, efficiency and even production processes are vastly improved. The use of AR is increasing day by day as it enhances the user’s ability to complete a task successfully and on time. 

Interestingly, the AR handsets which include, Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear Vr and HTC Vive have brought space exploration to the masses. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has started using virtual reality and augmented reality to train their astronauts for difficult situations once they move out from the Earth’s boundaries. 

Use Of AR and VR By NASA

Though Virtual Reality is spreading quite slowly, NASA has been using it for more than 25 years now, since it is the easiest way to replicate space on earth. In the 1980s, NASA did research to reduce the mishaps during spacewalking as it was the need of an hour. The research took place in NASA’s VR lab, located at the Johnson Space Center, and they successfully achieved what they wanted to do. 

The major use of Augmented reality in NASA is to train astronauts on how to do spacewalking when they leave the Earth. After the research, the astronauts were able to make use of NASA’s Virtual Reality Lab (VRL), to train for big projects though graphics and motion simulators through the headset. This is all important as astronauts should be well trained once they leave our planet and they should know how to achieve the task on another planet. The use of AR by NASA was to:

1. Superimpose instructions that help the astronaut through the maintenance repairs. 
2. Increases remote visibility that helps Astronauts to solve big issues in real time. 

According to research, by the end of the year 2020, the AR displays will be attached to the spacesuit helmets and everyone will know how useful will it be. Besides, it will also be very much helpful in sending astronauts to some other planet, specially MARS. 

Looking at normal space images can give very less knowledge about the actual space. Thus, using headsets can give the opportunity to scientists to have in-depth information about their study as it has the ability to create a 3D environment for the astronauts. 

AR and VR technologies are still evolving in almost every field and NASA is making a good use of it. NASA’s use of AR in the space study has brought some really good changes for the astronauts and we hope to see some more changes in the near future.