NASA ‘holographically teleports’ a doctor to the International Space Station

According to CNET, “Holoportation” is a mix of “hologram” and “teleportation,” and as much as it may look, it’s not just hidden in Isaac Asimov novels and Star Trek , a niche sci-fi term from the show. Last October, NASA used this mind-bogglingly futuristic mechanism to “take Dr. Josef Schmid, NASA’s flight surgeon, into the International Space Station” while he was actually staying safe on Earth.

With Schmid, Fernando De La Pena Llaca, CEO of AEXA Aerospace, an organization that helps develop the overall teleportation device, and some other team members took the interdimensional “journey” with Schmid.

“This is a whole new way of human exploration where our human entities are able to travel off Earth,” Schmid said in a statement. “Our physical body does not exist, but our human entity definitely exists.”

Although almost inconceivable, “holographic teleportation” is not a completely new technology. Microsoft came up with the idea a few years ago, but it was primarily aimed at revolutionizing industries like advertising, ground-level hospital care, and education , and has been steadily evolving the concept since. But NASA’s recent efforts have taken the feat to new heights.

This is the first time this kind of virtual transportation has successfully taken people beyond Earth.

Here’s how it all works:

Basically, high-quality 3D models of holographic projectors are developed and digitally compressed, transmitted and reconstructed in Skylab – all in real time. Meanwhile, a mixed reality display on the International Space Station, Microsoft’s Hololens , enables both the holographic projector and the astronauts to see, hear and communicate with each other as if they were in the same physical space. Astronaut Thomas Pesquet, for example, had a two-way conversation with Schmid and De La Pena in the center of the International Space Station, even though they were miles away from the holographic projector. The three even “shake hands” holographically.

“We will use it for our private medical sessions, private psychiatry sessions, private family meetings, and to bring VIPs to the space station to meet astronauts,” NASA said in a statement.

And, in the future, the agency intends to scale up its system by adding augmented reality capabilities, which would allow holographic projectors to actually move around the space station and observe things as if they were actually there. Suffice to say, everything is fine with the exception of physical touch.

This could aid in extraterrestrial telemedicine for astronauts, ISS construction projects, and even greatly benefit future deep space exploration. The latter is key, as standard radio communications typically have up to 20 minutes of delay when talking to systems far in the void. With “holographic teleportation” technology, “holographic teleportation” personnel can stay directly on the space station for real-time communication.

“It doesn’t really matter that the space station is constantly in orbit 250 miles above Earth at 17,500 miles per hour,” Schmid said. “The astronauts can come back in three minutes or three weeks, and with the system running, we’ll be right there, living on the space station.”

Alternatively, NASA says this could have immediate applications on Earth, such as researchers working in extreme environments or experts in military operations.

“Imagine bringing your best faculty or the actual designer of a particularly complex technology with you wherever you work,” Schmid said. “You can work on this device together like two of the best surgeons are working on a surgery. This will give everyone peace of mind knowing that the best team is working together on a critical piece of hardware.”