Using Virtual Reality to Shape Humanity's Return to the Moon: Key Takeaways from a Design Study

Abstract

Revived interest in lunar exploration is heralding a new generation of design solutions in support of human operations on the Moon. While space system design has traditionally been guided by prototype deployments in analogue studies, the resource-intensive nature of this approach has largely precluded application of proficient user-centered design (UCD) methods from human-computer interaction (HCI). This paper explores possible use of Virtual Reality (VR) to simulate analogue studies in lab settings and thereby bring to bear UCD in this otherwise engineering-dominated field. Drawing on the ongoing development of the European Large Logistics Lander, we have recreated a prospective lunar operational scenario in VR and evaluated it with a group of astronauts and space experts (n=20). Our qualitative findings demonstrate the efficacy of VR in facilitating UCD, enabling efficient contextual inquiries and improving project team coordination. We conclude by proposing future directions to further exploit VR in lunar systems design.

Authors
Tommy Nilsson
European Space Agency (ESA), Cologne, -, Germany
Flavie Rometsch
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Leonie Becker
European Space Agency, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Florian Dufresne
European Space Agency, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Paul Demedeiros
European Space Agency, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Enrico Guerra
European Space Agency, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Andrea Emanuele Maria. Casini
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Anna Vock
European Space Agency, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Florian Gaeremynck
European Space Agency, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Aidan Cowley
European Space Agency, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Paper URL

https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580718

Video

Conference: CHI 2023

The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (https://chi2023.acm.org/)

Session: HCI for Society and Humanity

Hall G2
6 items in this session
2023-04-26 09:00:00
2023-04-26 10:30:00