NASA to Test New Augmented Reality Glasses For Astronauts

NASA is developing augmented reality glasses that could help ISS astronauts carry out difficult repairs in space.

NASA is teaming up with military tech company Osterhout Design Group (ODG) for the project and plans on testing the glasses this year in its giant underwater training facility in the Gulf of Mexico.

If the testing is successful, the glasses will then go with astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

After that, NASA plans on using the glasses for helping out astronauts with its Orion spacecraft, which is supposed to eventually land humans on asteroids and Mars.

San Francisco-based ODG's glasses include a processor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and sensors for figuring out where the user is looking. The glasses have been primarily used by various US military agencies, but ODG is also launching a version for consumption.

For NASA, equipping astronauts with these glasses could make space flight a lot more manageable for astronauts.

The main use would be sending instructions straight to the user's eye for maintaining and repairing equipment on space shuttles.

The glasses could also send live video feed back to someone who is knowledgeable about a piece of equipment and send audio or visual instructions to the wearer of the smart glasses.

This could potentially cut down on the enormous amount of time astronauts have to spend on the ground training for missions to space, 'Forbes.com' reported.

"The amount of savings in training could be staggering," said Sean Carter, the manager of new business development at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

"This could be a game changer for human space flight exploration," Carter said.