Destination: Mars
Q. Who of the following have started ‘Destination: Mars’?- Published on 05 Apr 16a. NASA and Microsoft
b. Microsoft and Google
c. ESA and NASA
d. NASA and Google
ANSWER: NASA and Microsoft
- The U.S. space agency and tech giant Microsoft have teamed up to create ‘Destination: Mars’, a guided tour of Mars using the same Hololens headset technology that helps scientists plan the Curiosity rover’s activities on Red Planet.
- It will offer people a guided tour of an area of Mars with astronaut Buzz Aldrin this summer in an interactive exhibit using the Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality headset.
- “Mixed reality” means virtual elements are merged with the user’s actual environment, creating a world in which real and virtual objects can interact.
- The ‘Destination: Mars’ exhibit will open at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s visitor complex in Florida.
- Guests will “visit” several sites on Mars, reconstructed using real imagery from NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover, which has been exploring the Red Planet since August 2012.
- Aldrin, an Apollo 11 astronaut who walked on the moon in 1969, will serve as “holographic tour guide” on the journey.
- ‘Destination: Mars’ is an adaptation of OnSight, a Mars rover mission operations tool co-developed by Microsoft and JPL.
- A pilot group of scientists uses OnSight in their work supporting the Curiosity Mars rover’s operations.
