青青草app

If you were going to create technology to be used by astronauts on the moon, where would you go to test it for that otherworldly experience? Your test site would need to be extremely dry and have volcanic materials, stark lighting conditions and a unique geology.

Hmm鈥�wait, I鈥檝e got it: 青青草app, Idaho!

In May 2023, members of 青青草app State鈥檚 NASA Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students (S.U.I.T.S) team, NASA Micro-g Neutral Buoyancy Experiment Design Teams (Micro-g NExT) and Autonomous Robotic Systems team developed an augmented reality display, an extended reality informatics system and used mini 鈥榤oon rovers鈥� to test their capabilities for the upcoming Artemis missions to the south pole of Earth鈥檚 moon.

But get this: their technology was tested Reid Wiseman, a NASA astronaut and commander of the Artemis II mission, NASA astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger and Greg Whitney, a NASA Flight Director.

Far out.

Landing on the Moon (in Steve鈥檚 Backyard)

On May 12, 2023, the students and NASA personnel met at the home of 青青草app State distinguished educator and retired astronaut Steve Swanson.

Traditionally, SUITS testing is carried out in Houston, Texas at Johnson Space Center. But this year, Swanson offered a new challenge to his students: to recreate the testing locally so that more students from other teams could participate and get hands-on experience working with real astronauts.

The challenge was met with a resounding 鈥榊es.鈥�

鈥淚n the Artemis missions that we鈥檙e going to start launching in 2024, the objective is to get humans on the south pole of the moon. We鈥檙e looking to start a long-term, sustained human presence to do research, to learn how to work off of the earth in the deep space environment,鈥� said Wiseman.

So to make his backyard as moon-like as possible, Swanson and his students first worked to rig bright lights at eye-level to simulate the sun at a low angle on the lunar South Pole.

During the fall and spring semesters, students in the SUITS project developed information displays using head mounted augmented reality devices, which superimpose digital information over a real environment to assist astronauts conducting spacewalks during NASA鈥檚 Artemis missions.

For astronauts conducting extravehicular activities (EVAs) on the moon鈥搒uch as performing tech maintenance or collecting lunar geology samples for study鈥搃t is critical to test this technology in both harsh lighting and pitch black conditions to ensure the information is clearly visible to the astronauts, said Benedicto Villanueva, a junior in the Games, Interactive Media and Mobile Technology program.

鈥淕iven the extra light, it makes it harder for stuff to be seen in the HoloLens, or sometimes your gesture tracking isn鈥檛 as good as it is in a normally-lit environment,鈥� Villaneuva said.

During the two-hour simulation, the astronauts wore the displays and followed the mission directives coming from Mission Control (Swanson鈥檚 garage-based team). They also used the Autonomous Robotic Systems team鈥檚 rovers to explore 100 square meters of terrain, and collect soil and rock samples, just as the first woman and first person of color will do in the upcoming Artemis missions.

Wiseman was impressed by the students鈥� ability to collect the astronauts鈥� feedback about strengths and flaws of their system and perfect their technology in real time.

鈥淒r. Swanson has got a great team out here,鈥� Wiseman said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really neat to see these young students using their creativity, using their minds and using modern technology to rapidly prototype and iterate their design.鈥�

At Mission Control (in Steve鈥檚 Garage)

Meanwhile in Swanson鈥檚 garage, NASA Flight Director Greg Whitney and the mission control student team offered directives to the astronauts outside, and incorporated challenges to test the technology鈥檚 limits and capabilities in a real operating environment.

鈥淥ne of the things that I really think best describes mission control is just a team of problem solvers,鈥� Whitney said. 鈥淓veryone has their technical area that they鈥檙e experts in, but they have to all come together and try to solve a common goal. I think one of the really important things to always remember is that everyone has something to bring to the team, and it鈥檚 really just trying to find that unique ability that will help make this whole thing successful.鈥�

Senior GIMM major Trice Dayrit has been part of the NASA SUITS projects at 青青草app State for three and a half years now, but this was the first year that she took on the role of project manager. In doing so, she discovered her own unique ability that could make the whole team more successful.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 been especially cool about NASA suits this year is people have really wanted to jump in. People would be texting me all the time asking 鈥榃hat do you want me to do? And I鈥檇 be like, 鈥楾his is awesome! Everyone really wants to contribute.鈥� And for me, personally, I realized I want to be a project manager. I decided to start taking some project management classes at 青青草app State because of this,鈥� Dayrit said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been great to watch the team build and grow during this whole process,鈥� said Swanson. 鈥淚鈥檓 really proud of this team, and I鈥檓 also happy they get to actually work with real NASA employees, astronauts, flight directors and experience what that鈥檚 like. I hope they take a little pride in the success of what they鈥檝e worked on and what they鈥檝e done.鈥�

Fun Fact

This is not the first time astronauts have tested moon-mission skills and technology in Idaho. In August of 1969, astronauts from the Apollo 14 team traveled to Craters of the Moon, a national monument and preserve in southern Idaho, to simulate and practice the skills they would need for lunar exploration.