Design, Implementation and Evaluation of AR/VR Scenarios in Space Exploration

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are now being extensively researched in many fields, and one of them is space exploration. At present, much of the telemetry data coming from space is displayed on 2D screens in diagrams that are difficult to understand and require the user to concentrate in a way that
could be better used to evaluate the data. The use of Augmented Reality could bring real added value by displaying information in 3D. In recent years, projects have been evaluating the potential of AR and VR at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC). These evaluations have led to a list of practical use cases
and it is in this context that this thesis fits. Its objective is to implement a working prototype to support discussions between project members and the ESOC representative overseeing this Agile project. The prototype is implemented using Unity 3D with ARKit and it consists of loading and displaying a 3D model,
created in a previous step using the Lidar technology of the iPad Pro Gen 3, annotating it in augmented reality, and managing the annotation files. A user study was then carried out to gather feedback on this prototype and what could be implemented in the future.