Hi all,
I'm a 2nd Product Design Student in Scotland and have have recently been
given a joint project with an interior designer from NASA. I'm in need of
some assistance/feedback in a number of areas and thought you's could help.
My brief is to design a game for to or more astronauts. However there are a
number of factors that will affect my final design:
The crew is multinational, but all speak and read english
They all have differing abilities
The game must be benificial to the crew in either physically or mentally
They're on mission to mars. Its takes 5 year to get there,
The game is intended to alleviate boredom, stress, being in a confined
spavce for a length of time,etc,etc
Some questions i need answered
1. What are safe materials to use?
2. What sort of mental condition are astronaust in during a mission?
3. What are lauch environments like? gravitional forces, vibration
4. How are things powered in space. I know of solar power, but nothing else
5. Do materials suffer from creep in space? How do they react to the
environment
I'd bve grateful if you could answer any of the above questions, and also if
you have any ideas or would like to discuss thinsg further then thats great.
No doubt i've missed loads of stuff out, but thats my lot for just now
Thanks
Paul Kirkland
student
--- Pebblerock Design Co wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> My apologies if this is of topic.
> I'm a 2nd Product Design Student in Scotland and have have recently been
> given a joint project with an interior designer from NASA. I'm in need of
> some assistance/feedback in a number of areas and thought you's could help.
>
> My brief is to design a game for to or more astronauts. However there are a
> number of factors that will affect my final design:
>
> The crew is multinational, but all speak and read english
> They all have differing abilities
> The game must be benificial to the crew in either physically or mentally
> They're on mission to mars. Its takes 5 year to get there,
Isn't that a bit long for a Mars Mission even using Chemical rockets?
> The game is intended to alleviate boredom, stress, being in a confined
> spavce for a length of time,etc,etc
>
> Some questions i need answered
>
> 1. What are safe materials to use?
It really depends on what you need for the game. Although padded materials
would be a good choice.
> 2. What sort of mental condition are astronaust in during a mission?
It would depend on the length of the mission and environmental factors of the
craft. For long term missions like Mars they are going to be bored, homesick
and probably stressed although the astronaughts are very carefully chosen so
that they get people who aren't going to be a problem on the mission.
> 3. What are lauch environments like? gravitional forces, vibration
About 3 or 4 g for most manned rockets, unammend can get up to 10. Vibration
can be pretty bad with some rockets and almost non-existant with others.
> 4. How are things powered in space. I know of solar power, but nothing else
Nuclear is used for space probes going to the outer-planet and some satellites
orbiting earth as well as the Viking and Pathfinder landers and the science
instruments left behind by Apollo.
Batteries and Fuel Cells have been used to power spacecraft. Batteries are
usually used on solar powered craft to provide power when the craft is in the
dark. Fuel Cells are used on short duration missions like Apollo to provide
power. Neither of these are enough on long term missions although they can
provide extra power to supplement Solar or Nuclear if needed and serve as
backup power for a short time (enough to get the main power system back,
hopefully).
Mars Missions would probably be nuclear powered but solar with high capacity
low memory batteries is a possibility. Fuel cells can be ruled out because
they don't provide the power for long enough.
--- In spacesettlers@y..., "Pebblerock Design Co"
wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> My apologies if this is of topic.
>
> I'm a 2nd Product Design Student in Scotland and have have recently
been
> given a joint project with an interior designer from NASA. I'm in
need of
> some assistance/feedback in a number of areas and thought you's
could help.
>
> My brief is to design a game for to or more astronauts. However
there are a
> number of factors that will affect my final design:
>
> The crew is multinational, but all speak and read english
> They all have differing abilities
> The game must be benificial to the crew in either physically or
mentally
> They're on mission to mars. Its takes 5 year to get there,
>
> The game is intended to alleviate boredom, stress, being in a
confined
> spavce for a length of time,etc,etc
>
games have nearly infinite variety, and it will definitely keep their
minds occupied during long periods of relative inactivity on the trip
out or back. The pieces may be made of lightweight material, say
plastic with magnets in the bases, and a metallic board.
:) ed
--- In spacesettlers@y..., "Ed Minchau" wrote:
> --- In spacesettlers@y..., "Pebblerock Design Co"
> wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > My apologies if this is of topic.
> >
> > I'm a 2nd Product Design Student in Scotland and have have
recently
> been
> > given a joint project with an interior designer from NASA. I'm in
> need of
> > some assistance/feedback in a number of areas and thought you's
> could help.
> >
> > My brief is to design a game for to or more astronauts. However
> there are a
> > number of factors that will affect my final design:
> >
> > The crew is multinational, but all speak and read english
> > They all have differing abilities
> > The game must be benificial to the crew in either physically or
> mentally
> > They're on mission to mars. Its takes 5 year to get there,
> >
> > The game is intended to alleviate boredom, stress, being in a
> confined
> > spavce for a length of time,etc,etc
> >
> I suggest a chess set. The rules are already well-established, the
> games have nearly infinite variety, and it will definitely keep
their
> minds occupied during long periods of relative inactivity on the
trip
> out or back. The pieces may be made of lightweight material, say
> plastic with magnets in the bases, and a metallic board.
> :) ed
interested in playing nothing but chess for years.
Unless I'm horribly misguided, the ship will have a computer with
extra memory. A series of different computer games from multiplayer
to solo would not take up much physical space.
For exercise and physical play, there could be a number of games based
on a simple inflatable spherical rubber ball like a soccer ball
(though I believe outside the USofA such things are called footballs.)
So I basically favor something like a computer or a rubber ball that
could be used in many different ways.
Rick Brooks