What is it about?
For most space missions, the process of planning the route the spacecraft will take is complex, math-intensive, and involves a lot of back-and-forth between team members of various backgrounds. HoloAstro is a customizable 3D augmented reality tool that could make this process easier. Users can design routes through space by manipulating digital holograms with their hands, and they can fully customize the environments, physics models, and algorithms for their specific missions.
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Photo by Micheal Ogungbe on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Most current route-planning tools for space missions are built for traditional 2D computer screens, and their interfaces require a deep knowledge of orbital mechanics. Studies have shown that tasks involving complex, high-dimensional data like this can be easier to do in 3D. For this reason, HoloAstro's physically interactive 3D holograms could help make both space mission design and orbital mechanics education more intuitive.
Perspectives
Creating HoloAstro was one of my favorite projects I have ever worked on. The feeling of stretching a holographic orbit by hand, or seeing your final mission design float in front of you, is unmatched. I loved this research so much that I even built a startup around HoloAstro. I hope this article gets people as excited as I am for the future of space mission design.
David Turner
University of Colorado Boulder
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Customizable Augmented Reality Tool for Intuitive Trajectory Design, January 2026, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA),
DOI: 10.2514/6.2026-1458.
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