Haptics refers to technology that can simulate touch through things like vibrations or motors. 'Furthermore, we will combine augmented reality with haptics,' Schmid said. 'Imagine you can bring the best instructor or the actual designer of a particularly complex technology right beside you wherever you might be working on it,' Schmid said. With two-way hologram communication tested from Earth to space (and vice versa), NASA aims to use this technology for off-Earth tele-mentoring. Long space missions can change astronaut brain structure and function Without gravity, the fluid around an astronaut's brain moves in weird ways Deep-space radiation could cause have big impacts on the brain, mouse experiment shows The technology is not new, but has never been used in an environment this challenging with users so far apart. With the two systems combined, users in orbit can not only see hologram participants, but can also hear and interact with them. This technology couples with the HoloLens, a self-described 'mixed reality headset' that combines sensors, optics and holographic processing tech to allow the wearer to see the hologram images or even enter a 'virtual world.' The 'holoportation' technology that enabled this event works using specialized image capture technology that reconstructs, compresses and transmits live 3D models of people. The holograms of the doctors were visible live in the middle of the space station. Using the Microsoft Hololens Kinect camera and a personal computer with custom Aexa software, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who was on board the station at that time, had a holo-conversation with Schmid and De La Pena's teams.

The medical teams holoported to the station on Oct. 'It doesn't matter that the space station is traveling 17,500 mph and in constant motion in orbit 250 miles above Earth, the astronaut can come back three minutes or three weeks later and with the system running, we will be there in that spot, live on the space station,' Schmid added. (Image credit: ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet) Joe Schmid, Kevin Bryant, Mackenzie Hoffman and Wes Tarkington.

Fernando De La Pena Llaca, Rlhab Sadik, Dr. Hologram medical professionals on the ISS on Oct.

Nasa astronauts