National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) investigative test subjects recently examined how sense of direction is impacted by the lack of gravity and whether a simple device can improve the ability to navigate.
Humans use their vision, inner ear and Earth’s gravity to orient themselves in any given environment – but in space, the normal rules do not apply. Dr. Scott Wood of NSBRI's Sensorimotor Adaptation Team says, “In micro-gravity, the sense of ‘down’ isn’t clear, and can cause problems when navigating around a large craft like the space station.”
In their sensory tests, a “vomit comet” (i.e. an aircraft that simulates weightlessness by flying a series of steep climbs and descents) flew 36 parabolas of varying gravity levels, during which the students sat in a tilted, rotating chair wearing virtual-reality goggles and sound-canceling headgear. The subject was turned to a random position and shown an image of the cockpit, rear or particular side of the plane. Using a joystick, he or she would attempt to navigate in the direction needed to reach that area.
At the same time, each wore a vibrating belt, which sometimes fired to cue the wearer to the direction of the floor so they might have a more accurate awareness of their orientation when moving toward the location of interest. Other times, the belt randomly remained inactive, leaving the subject to estimate their orientation in the simulation.
If tests prove the device improved navigation ability, it could be modified for use in extravehicular activities on the moon, whereby the tactor vibrators could be programmed to fire in the direction a crew member needs to go.
"Think of it as a non-visual, non-auditory GPS interface. It could make astronauts more efficient at lunar survey tasks because they can be guided to locations that don't have clear terrain markings," Dr. Wood said.
The many students who participated from Texas A&M, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Ohio University, Rice, UCLA and UTMB, each committed to lectures at public schools in their hometowns afterward, hoping to foster interest in science. Student participation was supported through funding from Excalibur Almaz, a private corporation whose goal is to accelerate the peaceful use of outer space for exploration, research and science.
Written and guest posted by Heather Archuletta of Pillow Astronaut.
Sources:
http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2009/01/going_to_school.html
http://www.nsbri.org/NewsPublicOut/Release.epl?r=117
http://www.spacecoalition.com/blog/entry.cfm?entry_id=293E4345-9CFE-3AFD-61E3009927554338
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