EVA的模拟目的是探索该区域, 那里有岩石, 寻找感兴趣的地质特征和岩石, 附有土壤样本.
普里西拉·格罗弗摄
If you were going to create technology to be used by 宇航员 on the moon, 你会去哪里测试这种超凡脱俗的体验? Your test site would need to be extremely dry and have volcanic materials, 严酷的光照条件和独特的地质条件.
等等，我想到了:爱达荷州博伊西!
In May 2023, members of Boise State’s NASA Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for 学生 (S.U.I.T.S)团队, 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 ‘moon rovers’ to test their capabilities for the upcoming Artemis missions to the south pole of Earth’s moon.
但听听这个:他们的技术经过了测试，里德·怀斯曼, 他是美国宇航局宇航员，也是阿尔忒弥斯二号任务的指挥官, 美国宇航局宇航员多蒂·梅特卡夫-林登伯格和格雷格·惠特尼, 美国宇航局飞行指挥.
远离.
登陆月球(在史蒂夫的后院)
5月12日, 2023, the students and NASA personnel met at the home of Boise State distinguished educator and retired astronaut 史蒂夫Swanson.
Traditionally, SUITS testing is carried out in Houston, Texas at Johnson Space Center. 但是今年, 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 宇航员.
这个挑战得到了响亮的回答“是”.’
“In the Artemis missions that we’re going to start launching in 2024, 目标是让人类登上月球南极. 365体育希望开始一个长期的, 持续的人类存在来做研究, 学习如何在远离地球的深空环境中工作,怀斯曼说。.
所以把他的后院布置得尽可能像月亮一样, 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.
普里西拉·格罗弗摄
在秋季和春季学期, students in the SUITS project developed information displays using head mounted augmented reality devices, which superimpose digital information over a real environment to assist 宇航员 conducting spacewalks during NASA’s Artemis missions.
For 宇航员 conducting extravehicular activities (EVAs) on the moon–such as performing tech maintenance or collecting lunar geology samples for study–it is critical to test this technology in both harsh lighting and pitch black conditions to ensure the information is clearly visible to the 宇航员, 本尼迪克托·维兰纽瓦说, 参加运动会的大三学生, 互动媒体和移动技术课程.
“考虑到额外的光线, 这样就很难在全息透镜上看到东西了, or sometimes your gesture tracking isn’t as good as it is in a normally-lit environment,维拉纽瓦说.
在两个小时的模拟过程中, the 宇航员 wore the displays and followed the mission directives coming from Mission Control (Swanson’s garage-based team). They also used the Autonomous Robotic Systems team’s rovers to explore 100 square meters of terrain, 收集土壤和岩石样本, just as the first woman and first person of color will do in the upcoming Artemis missions.
Wiseman was impressed by the students’ ability to collect the 宇航员’ feedback about strengths and flaws of their system and perfect their technology in real time.
“Dr. 斯旺森在这里有一支伟大的球队，”怀斯曼说. “看到这些年轻学生发挥他们的创造力，真是太棒了, using their minds and using modern technology to rapidly prototype and iterate their design.”
在任务控制中心(史蒂夫的车库)
同时在斯旺森的车库里, NASA Flight Director 格雷格·惠特尼 and the mission control student team offered directives to the 宇航员 outside, and incorporated challenges to test the technology’s limits and capabilities in a real operating environment.
“One of the things that I really think best describes mission control is just a team of problem solvers,惠特尼说. “每个人都有自己擅长的技术领域, 但他们必须走到一起，努力解决一个共同的目标. I think one of the really important things to always remember is that everyone has something to bring to the team, and it’s really just trying to find that unique ability that will help make this whole thing successful.”
Senior GIMM major 瞬间德瑞 has been part of the NASA SUITS projects at Boise 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.
“What’s 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 ‘What do you want me to do? 我会说，‘这太棒了! 每个人都想做出贡献.就我个人而言，我意识到我想成为一名项目经理. I decided to start taking some project management classes at Boise State because of this,戴里特说.
“It’s been great to watch the team build and grow during this whole process,” said Swanson. “我真的为这支球队感到骄傲, and I’m also happy they get to actually work with real NASA employees, 宇航员, 飞行指挥和体验那是什么感觉. I hope they take a little pride in the success of what they’ve worked on and what they’ve done.”
有趣的事实
This is not the first time 宇航员 have tested moon-mission skills and technology in Idaho. 1969年8月, 阿波罗14号的宇航员前往月球环形山, 位于爱达荷州南部的国家纪念碑和保护区, to simulate and practice the skills they would need for lunar exploration.
