Science fiction and film and television have always broadened our imaginations, and with the development of technology, these "brain-opening" ideas have sometimes come true, such as holograms.
▲ Image courtesy of Rolling Stone
The development of holograms over the years has allowed us to see Michal Jackson (Michael Jackson), Teresa Teng, Zhang Guorong, who have left us... This technology, which looks like a "big change of life", allows people to cross the barriers of space and even time.
▲Image from: CUP
We've also seen holograms in movies and TV, like Princess Leia projected by R2-D2 in Star Wars, and the holographic doctor "The Doctor" in the Star Trek: Voyager series.
▲ Image courtesy of Star Trek
In fact, the doctor in Star Trek is actually just a computer-simulated holographic program developed by the Federation of Stars called the Emergency Medical Holographic Program (EMH). But the doctors NASA teleports into space are people who really live on Earth.
In October 2021, NASA flight surgeon Josef Schmid Schmid) was "holographically teleported" into space to visit astronauts living on the International Space Station.
▲Image from: NASA
In addition to Dr. Schmid, the first humans to enter space through holographic technology, there was Fernando De La Pe a Llaca, CEO of software vendor Aexa Aerospace, and the hologram team he led.
Thomas Pesquet, a European space agency astronaut in space, used Microsoft HoloLens' Kinect camera and a personal computer with Aexa custom software to have a two-way dialogue with holograms of Schmid and De La Pea that appeared in the center of the International Space Station.
▲Image from: NASA
Behind the realization of this holographic dialogue, it is naturally inseparable from holographic transmission technology - the use of specialized image capture technology, reconstruction, compression and transmission of real-time three-dimensional models of people.
Coupled with the "HoloLens" mixed reality headset that combines sensor, optical and holographic processing technologies, the two work together. After putting on the helmet, you can see the hologram and even enter a virtual world. In this way, people in space orbit can truly see people on Earth, hear their voices, and interact.
▲ Astronaut Thomas Pesquet, image from: NASA
Hologram transmission is not new, but it has never been used in extreme environments where users are so far apart. NASA said that holograms, an "emerging communication method", are of great significance to future space missions. The next step will also be to plan to experiment with two-way holographic communication between Earth and space.
Now that exploration of space has set its sights on Mars, astronauts can better communicate with ground control centers, families, and medical teams, and NASA aims to use this technology for extraterrestrial remote guidance. However, as people go further in space, the challenges posed by communication delays cannot be ignored.
▲Image from: NASA
In addition to exploring further afield, holograms also play a role in various extreme environments, such as Antarctica, offshore oil rigs and other areas with more extreme environments, and this technology overcomes distance and environment to maintain communication.
Without the need for movement, people can "reach" different places, and holographic technology has opened up new ways for humans to communicate and explore. Maybe one day we can leave Earth in this way and go into space.