Apple hires NASA's AR expert Jeff Norris

Apple has hired NASA's AR expert Jeff Norris to boost its own AR efforts, reports Bloomberg. Norris, reportedly joined Apple earlier this year as a senior manager working on the augmented reality team led by Mike Rockwell, who formerly ran Dolby Labs. The team is said to be working on the previously-rumored augmented reality smart glasses as well as AR features for future versions of the iPhone.

Norris joins the long list of people that have been recently poached by Cupertino giant from VR and AR competitors like Oculus and Magic Leap.

Norris joined Nasa in 1999 and helped create software for controlling Mars exploration rovers from the ground. He founded the Mission Operations Innovation Office of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab, where he led efforts to create new ways to control spacecraft and robots in space with virtual and augmented reality, according to his website.

Apple's CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly talked of AR’s potential, saying last July that the company was “high on AR in the long run,” and confirming this year that he saw it as a “big idea like the smartphone.”  The company is said to have a large team of employees working on the technologies and exploring ways they could be used in future Apple products.

Apple has been working on both virtual reality headsets and augmented reality smart glasses, and is expected to launch the latter in 2018.