About This Project
So. Let's imagine that after many years of dreaming, you're going into space! Unfortunately, when you get into orbit, you're miserable! Like most astronauts, you experience malaise, disorientation, dizziness, nausea, and even vomiting. For a long-duration mission, space adaptation sickness is a fairly minor inconvenience, but if you have only a few days in space to work or play, of course it's more of a problem. We propose a simple solution: provide an additional reference in the form of an auditory signal, perceived as coming from Earth. We hope to make commercial spaceflight more enjoyable.Ask the Scientists
Join The DiscussionWhat is the context of this research?
This project's purpose is to create a device that provides orientation reference information in microgravity environments. The device must be comfortable and must not interfere with crew communication or add to already high noise levels found on spacecraft.
What is the significance of this project?
About 40% of the people going in a microgravity environments suffer « Space adaptation syndrome ». Like seasickness, this faintness has effect on digestion, but more important, it disturbs orientation, to such an extent that people lose their bearings, even « left / right » or « top / bottom ». The goal of this project is to reduce the impact of this « disease » by giving 3D sounds bearings to the astronauts.
What are the goals of the project?
The budget will be initially used to purchase the equipment to build the device (helmet, on-board computer, inertial measurement unit, ear inserts, and visor). An intern will work on software development and assembly of the prototype. To validate the idea, the system will be tested on a zero-g flight: with vision blocked by the visor showing a 3D environment, the student will be requested to use the auditory aid to evaluate his or her attitude in zero-g. The accuracy of his or her estimation will be used to determine the effectiveness of the idea. The zero-g flight budget includes a research seat in a Zero-G Corporation flight, travel costs, and other costs associated to data analysis.
Budget
The budget will be initially used to purchase the equipment to build the device (helmet, on-board computer, inertial measurement unit, ear inserts, and visor). An intern will work on software development and assembly of the prototype. To validate the idea, the system will be tested on a zero-g flight: with vision blocked by the visor showing a 3D environment, the student will be requested to use the auditory aid to evaluate his or her attitude in zero-g. The accuracy of his or her estimation will be used to determine the effectiveness of the idea. The zero-g flight budget includes a research seat in a Zero-G Corporation flight, travel costs, and other costs associated to data analysis.
Meet the Team
Affiliates
Giovanni Beltrame
Giovanni Beltrame received the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Illinois, Chicago, in 2001, the Laurea degree in computer engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, in 2002, the M.S. degree in information technology from CEFRIEL, Milan, in 2002, and the Ph.D. degree in computer engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, in 2006. He worked as an engineer at the European Space Agency until 2009, and he is currently an Assistant Professor at École Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada. His research interests include modeling and design of embedded systems, artificial intelligence, and robotics.
Project Backers
- 1Backers
- 1%Funded
- $25Total Donations
- $25.00Average Donation