ESA’s Argonaut lunar lander is being hailed as a future keystone of Europe’s independent access to the Moon. An intensive study phase is currently underway with a view of paving the way for its design and eventual launch. Against this backdrop, our team seeks to support the Argonaut development by simulating prospective scenarios involving the lander and by subsequently evaluating these scenarios with experienced astronauts and other experts.
Objectives
A key premise of our work is that VR simulations can enable assessments of design ideas without incurring many of the financial, logistical or temporal costs typically associated with real-world prototype deployments. Through the simulation of specific aspects of the Argonaut’s future operations and subsequent evaluation by relevant experts, our aim was not only to contribute to the development of the Argonaut but also to investigate the potential role of VR in shaping the future of lunar system development.
What I did
I built a prospective Argonaut scenario in VR, including the required 3D assets. Together with a group of students and interns, we conducted multiple expert user studies, enabling us to collect and analyze a diverse range of user feedback. This collaborative effort resulted in the publication of two research papers.
Workflow
To accurately reenact lunar surface conditions, we relied on a virtual moonscape which I had developed during a previous project. Next, we produced a virtual mockup representing a hypothetical configuration of the Argonaut lander. We sought to provide the mockup with the highest possible level of details to allow for the evaluation and study of issues concerning its overall usability as well as potential operations and human factors challenges. Throughout this process, we relied on feedback from the Argonaut engineering team, helping us make sure our mockup was reasonably realistic.
The Argonaut mockup was then placed into our virtual moonscape where it served as a centerpiece of simulated mission scenarios, such as cargo reception and unloading procedures. Finally, 20 expert participants were invited to complete these simulated scenarios whereupon we asked them to reflect on the depicted Argonaut lander. The expert participants included 2 experienced astronauts (Alex Gerst and Luca Parmitano), several astronaut instructors as well as engineers and lunar scientists.
Through this study, we ended up collecting numerous potentially important insights and actionable reflections on matters ranging from the optimal positioning and intensity of artificial lights to the ergonomics of handles and safety railings. More importantly though, our study demonstrated the efficacy of VR in facilitating simulations and assessments of technologies that are yet to be built and tested in the real world. By enabling the collection of feedback on concepts that are still on the drawing board, VR could prove vital in helping future engineering teams better anticipate various hurdles and work proactively to eliminate them, thereby saving considerable time and resources across the overall development process.
It doesn’t really tell me much about the mechanics of things, because of the limited haptic feedback. But situational awareness is something else. It’s good at giving the astronauts the awareness of what situation they would get themselves into… with the lighting, you know… I mean, I already through this VR simulation have a good feeling of what it would be like there on the Moon. That’s a tremendous advantage.
Astronaut Alexander Gerst
The team has recently published 2 papers elaborating the study and its different findings in detail:
- Using Virtual Reality to Shape Humanity’s Return to the Moon: Key Takeaways from a Design Study
- Using Virtual Reality to Design and Evaluate a Lunar Lander: The EL3 Case Study
