washington nasa has teamed up with microsoft to develop a new software that will enable scientists to work on mars virtually using a wearable technology developed by nasas jet propulsion laboratory the software called onsight will give scientists a means to plan and along with the mars curiosity rover conduct science operations on the red planet onsight gives our rover scientists the ability to walk around and explore mars right from their offices said dave lavery programme executive for the mars science laboratory mission at nasa headquarters in washington it fundamentally changes our perception of mars and how we understand the mars environment surrounding the rover said lavery onsight will use real rover data and extend curiositys existing planning tools by creating a 3d simulation of the martian environment where scientists from world over can meet programme scientists will be able to examine the rovers worksite from a firstperson perspective plan new activities and preview the results of their work firsthand we believe onsight will enhance the ways in which we explore mars and share that journey of exploration with the world said jeff norris jpls onsight project manager until now rover operations required scientists to examine mars imagery on a computer screen but even 3d stereo views lack a natural sense of depth that human vision employs to understand spatial relationships the onsight system uses holographic computing to overlay visual information and rover data into users field of view holographic computing blends a view of the physical world with computergenerated imagery to create a hybrid of real and virtual to view this holographic realm members of the curiosity mission team don a microsoft hololens device which surrounds them with images from the rovers martian field site they then can stroll around the rocky surface or crouch down to examine rocky outcrops from different angles the tool provides access to scientists and engineers looking to interact with mars in a more natural human way previously our mars explorers have been stuck on one side of a computer screen this tool gives them the ability to explore the rovers surroundings much as an earth geologist would do field work here on our planet said norris the onsight tool also will be useful for planning rover operations for example scientists can programme activities for many of the rovers science instruments by looking at a target and using gestures to select menu commands the tool will assist researchers in better understanding the environment and workspace of robotic spacecraft something that can be quite challenging with their traditional suite of tools jpl plans to begin testing onsight in curiosity mission operations later this year future applications may include mars 2020 rover mission operations and other applications in support of nasas journey to mars