No, it’s not the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager (though all Trekkies appreciate the Vulcan salute), but he is a real doctor as well as a hologram. Space.com reports that in 2021 NASA flight surgeon Dr. Josef Schmid holographically appeared to astronauts on board the International Space Station. He used software provided by Alexa Aerospace and the Microsoft Hololens Kinect camera while on Earth. This setup allows astronauts and physicians to interact with each other, despite the great distance between them.
Space.com says that NASA plans to expand this system for other purposes, including giving the ability of astronauts to “holoport” down to Earth. This could be used to provide private psychiatric care to astronauts as well as permit virtual family visits.
The article leaves unsaid the most important question for readers: can Dr. Schmid sing opera?
-via Marginal Revolution | Photo: European Space Agency