Scientists at NASA and Microsoft are collaborating to develop a 3D simulation of the Martian environment.
Earlier this week, scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, announced that, with the help of Microsoft's brainiacs, they will give the scientific community the ability to take a 3D tour of the Red Planet.
So, NASA and Microsoft researchers are collaborating to develop new software they call OnSight. The new software will be able to create a 3D simulation of the Martian surface that scientists will be able to explore from the comfort of their offices.
In a report published for the project, NASA scientists say that the 3D simulation of the Martian environment will be created using data collected from orbiting spacecraft and rovers currently operating on the Red Planet.
Most of this data comes from NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed in Gale Crater on Mars in August 2012. The rover is still operational, and scientists expect that sometime in the coming days, it will drill a new hole into the Martian surface.
Once the 3D simulation of Mars is created, researchers will be able to walk through the 3D landscape and study it in detail using Microsoft's wearable technology, HoloLens.
It should be mentioned that, despite the fact that NASA and Microsoft scientists are currently developing the OnSight software that will work seamlessly with HoloLens, when the new technology is completed it will be available to the entire scientific community.
