HoloLens Development

HoloLens development edition is coming in 2016

Microsoft is focusing on developers, not the general public, for the latest in HoloLens events and announcements. The good news for the public is that, in doing so, the conversation is shedding light on what is behind HoloLens and what to expect once availability happens.

---

---

Do not expect to be mentally transported into another world; you remain in a familiar place where virtual characters may join your space. You’re looking at sessions of mixed reality, not virtual reality.

Engadget features editor Joseph Volpe asserted that “any and all comparisons to emerging virtual reality tech and related gaming or entertainment applications should be excised from the conversation for now. It’s not ‘immersive’ as one Microsoft rep stressed to me, clearly keen to avoid the confused commingling of AR and VR buzzwords. It’s ‘complementary."”

The development edition will ship in the first quarter of 2016, for $3000.

This is an augmented reality headset; some watchers call it an “untethered wearable.” HoloLens works all on its own: all the hardware necessary to run any program is inside the headset, said Popular Science. Microsoft’s definition of its HoloLens: The first holographic computer running Windows 10. You get to place holograms in your own physical environment.

From mixed reality to virtual reality, though, the immediate perception of a headset development on the horizon is gaming. Nonetheless, the HoloLens creators point out that it has been engineered for productivity as well as design.

“HoloLens is very much a powerful tool for business, science and education—both Volvo and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are actively experimenting with it,” said Engadget’s Volpe.

Developers can check out HoloLens at the Microsoft store on 5th Avenue in New York City where showcasing has begun.

---

---

For Bryan Lukfkin in Gizmodo, a key role the user’s eyes will play was noteworthy. “With the HoloLens, the ‘cursor’ is your eyes. You look around a real room you’re in and select holographic images that appear in your goggles by hovering the cursor in the middle of your field of vision over the object.

To interact with the object, you ‘air tap.’ In front of the goggles by pointing your index finger in the air and making a fast swipe down motion. Voice commands are also at your disposal.”

Edward Baig of USA Today shared the experience: At the store, Baig found himself shooting at robotic aliens firing at him as he fired back at them, floating around him. They seemed to hide inside the walls of the room and he went after them. He could see them through a built-in X-ray feature.

Those were games; Lufkin described a demo which indicated how businesses and other organizations may use HoloLens for presentations.

Goodbye yawnfests of having to watch 23 charts on a white screen.

“The idea here is that you can replace boring PowerPoints with holograms. (How appropriate for Microsoft!) In the demo, I stepped into a fictional boardroom pitch for a luxury watch. I looked at real table in the room and saw a large hologram watch blown up to the size of a golden retriever.

I could move the cursor with my eyes to different points of interest on the watch. When I looked at the band, a pop up told me what the links were made of. In another spot I was given info about the battery.”

“What I can tell you is that the technology is ‘mindblowing,’ said Baig. He said that “when digital becomes part of the physical and vice versa, the most promising reality is that you’re in for a treat.”

Said Michael Nuñez in Popular Science: “It’s true that the HoloLens already has all of necessary computing power to be used as a legitimate productivity tool. Now all it needs is a killer app.”

He said the HoloLens is powered by a CPU, graphics process unit (GPU), and something that Microsoft is calling a “holographic processing unit” (HPU), which interprets and processes data from the device’s sensor array.

---

---

HoloLens Development

Mars Orbiter Preparing for 2016 Arrival

With its biggest orbit maneuver since 2006, NASA’s Mars Orbiter will prepare this week for the arrival of NASA’s next Mars lander, InSight, next year.

A planned 77-second firing of six intermediate-size thrusters on July 29 will adjust the orbit timing of the veteran spacecraft so it will be in position to receive radio transmissions from InSight as the newcomer descends through the Martian atmosphere and touches down on Sept. 28, 2016. These six rocket engines, which were used for trajectory corrections during the spacecraft’s flight from Earth to Mars, can each produce about 22 newtons, or five pounds, of thrust.

“Without making this orbit change maneuver, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter would be unable to hear from InSight during the landing, but this will put us in the right place at the right time,” said MRO Project Manager Dan Johnston of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes above a portion of the planet called Nilosyrtis Mensae in this artist’s concept illustration.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The orbiter will record InSight’s transmissions for later playback to Earth as a record of each event during the critical minutes of InSight’s arrival at Mars, just as MRO did for the landings of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover three years ago, and NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander in 2008.

---

---

InSight will examine the deep interior of Mars for clues about the formation and early evolution of all rocky planets, including Earth.

MRO will continue its studies of Mars while preparing for the InSight arrival. MRO collects high-resolution imaging and spectral data, as well as atmospheric and sub-surface profiles. It has returned several times more data about the Red Planet than all other deep-space missions combined. It will also continue providing communication relay support for Mars rovers and making observations for analysis of candidate landing sites for future missions.

After the InSight landing, plans call for MRO to perform a pair of even larger maneuvers in October 2016 and April 2017 — each using the six intermediate-size thrusters longer than three minutes. These will return it to the orbit timing it has used since 2006, crossing the equator at about 3 a.m. and 3 p.m., local solar time, during each near-polar loop around the planet. To observe the InSight arrival, MRO will be in an orbit that crosses the equator at about 2:30 p.m. local solar mean time.

---

---

The last time the mission performed a maneuver larger than this week’s was on November 15, 2006. That maneuver fired the intermediate-size thrusters for 76 seconds to establish the original 3 p.m. Local Mean Solar Time (LMST) sun-synchronous condition after a six-month period of using dips into the upper atmosphere to alter the orbit’s shape. The spacecraft has three sets of thrusters. It used its most powerful set — six thrusters, each with 170 newtons, or 39 pounds of force — for about 27 minutes to first enter orbit when it arrived at Mars on March 10, 2006. It uses eight smaller thrusters most frequently, for small adjustments to course or orientation.

Even after the planned 2017 maneuver, the spacecraft’s remaining supply of hydrazine propellant is projected to be more than 413 pounds (about 187 kilograms), equivalent to about 19 years of consumption in normal operations.

– Credit and Resource –

provided by: NASA

---

Mars Orbiter Preparing for 2016 Arrival