Five NASA Technologies at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show

This week, we’re attending the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), where we’re

joining industrial pioneers and business leaders from across the globe to

showcase our space technology. Since 1967, CES has been the place to be for next-generation innovations to get their

marketplace debut.

Our technologies are driving exploration and enabling the

agency’s bold new missions to extend the human presence beyond the moon, to an

asteroid, to Mars and beyond. Here’s a look at five technologies we’re showing off

at #CES2017:

1. IDEAS

Our Integrated Display and Environmental Awareness System (IDEAS) is an interactive optical computer that works for smart glasses. The idea behind IDEAS is to enhance real-time operations by providing augmented reality data to field engineers here on Earth and in space.

This device would allow users to see and modify critical information on a transparent, interactive display without taking their eyes or hands off the work in front of them.

This wearable technology could dramatically improve the user’s situational awareness, thus improving safety and efficiency.

For example, an astronaut could see health data, oxygen levels or even environmental emergencies like “invisible” ethanol fires right on their helmet view pane.

And while the IDEAS prototype is an innovative solution to the challenges of in-space missions, it won’t just benefit astronauts—this technology can be applied to countless fields here on Earth.

2. VERVE

Engineers at

our Ames Research Center are developing robots to work as teammates with

humans.

They created a user interface called the Visual Environment for

Remote Virtual Exploration (VERVE)

that allows researchers to see from a robot’s perspective.

Using VERVE,

astronauts on the International Space Station remotely operated the K10

rover—designed to act as a scout during NASA missions to survey terrain and

collect science data to help human explorers.

This week, Nissan announced that

a version of our VERVE was modified for its Seamless Autonomous Mobility

(SAM), a platform for the integration of autonomous vehicles into our society.

For more on this partnership: https://www.nasa.gov/ames/nisv-podcast-Terry-Fong

3. OnSight

Did you know that we are leveraging technology from virtual and augmented reality apps to

help scientists study Mars and to help astronauts in space?

The Ops Lab at

our Jet Propulsion Laboratory is at the forefront of deploying these

groundbreaking applications to multiple missions.

One project we’re

demonstrating at CES, is how our OnSight tool—a

mixed reality application developed for the Microsoft HoloLens—enables

scientists to “work on Mars” together from their offices.

Supported by the Mars

2020 and Curiosity missions, it is currently in use by a pilot group of

scientists for rover operations. Another

HoloLens project is being used aboard the International Space Station to

empower the crew with assistance when and where they need it.

At CES, we’re also using the Oculus Rift virtual reality

platform to provide a tour from the launchpad at our Kennedy Space Center of

our Space

Launch System (SLS). SLS will be the world’s most powerful rocket and will

launch astronauts in the Orion

Spacecraft on missions to an asteroid and eventually to Mars. Engineers

continue to make progress aimed toward delivering the first SLS rocket to

Kennedy in 2018.

4. PUFFER

The Pop-Up Flat

Folding Explorer Robot, PUFFER, is an origami-inspired robotic technology prototype that folds into the

size of a smartphone.

It is a low-volume, low-cost enhancement whose compact

design means that many little robots could be packed in to a larger “parent”

spacecraft to be deployed on a planet’s surface to increase surface mobility.

It’s like a Mars rover Mini-Me!

5. ROV-E

Our Remote Operated Vehicle for Education, or ROV-E, is a six-wheeled rover modeled after our Curiosity and the

future Mars 2020 Rover.

It uses off-the-shelf, easily

programmable computers and 3D-printed parts. ROV-E has four modes, including

user-controlled driving to sensor-based hazard-avoidance and “follow me” modes.

ROV-E can answer questions about Mars and follow voice commands.

ROV-E was developed by a team of interns and young,

up-and-coming professionals at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who wanted to

build a Mars rover from scratch to help introduce students and the public to

Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) careers, planetary

science and our Journey

to Mars.

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Source NASA blog