SpaceTalk

Redefining spacecraft mission collaboration at NASA with mobile virtual reality

_{We tested a number of immersive applications for HoloLens, Vive, and Daydream. We also conducted a heuristic evaluation of Google Earth VR (Vive), Galaxy Explorer (Hololens), and Lunaserv Explorer (Web-based NASA tool) to understand interface conventions for our problem space.}

_{Semi-structured interviews helped our team understand the context in which scientists and engineers collaborate with each other in NASA orbiter missions.}

_{Given the complexity of our problem space, we saw value in presenting NASA engineers and scientists with a visual diagram that was derived from our primary and secondary research findings to allow us to receive ongoing critical feedback of our team’s understanding of the collaborative relationship between scientists and engineers.}

_{To make sense of 17 interviews, 4 card sorting activities, and 5 iterative diagrams, our team created a massive affinity diagram. From this method, we generated over 90 themes from over 1,000 codes of data. These themes were distilled into a series of insights, generative research artifacts, and design principles.}

_{Some of qualitative data we collected did not fit into themes or categories and required a more visual interpretation. Therefore, we designed 4 generative research artifacts to help us synthesize and share our findings with each other and our sponsors. One of these was an orbital map, which I designed.}

Need for Time Sensitive Tools

Need for Social Translucense

Need for a Unified Visualization

_{Remotely Located Mission Team
We also learned from our research that over half of Europa Clipper mission personnel will be located in different parts of the country during the mission. We decided that this would be an excellent problem space to design around.}

_{Through mutliple rounds of timed rapid sketching, we generated over 90 concepts.}

_{Using our design principles and research findings, we narrowed down our concepts through voting and a series of 2x2 matrices.}

_{To share our storyboard with our target users at NASA JPL, we created a video slideshow with voice over audio to simulate how our design could be used during Phase E of the Europa Clipper mission. We used this as means of testing the design's context of use and the information needs of JPL users.}

_{To make sense of the mobile experience, we created wireframes and a mobile architecture of the design.}

_{We also created a site map for the VR experience as well to help us better define our interface.}

_{Before creating our UI components, we created a flow demonstrating how the mobile experience would transition to a VR experience.}

_{We also designed a system diagram to demonstrate how our concept would be integrated with current NASA operational tools.}

_{SpaceTalk is a mobile virtual reality application that allows engineers, scientists, and mission personnel to remotely collaborate inside a virtual simulation of the mission. Think “Skype” or “FaceTime”, but in virtual reality. Collaborators can discuss complex mission information as if they were, in orbit, next to the spacecraft.}

_{Mission personnel can quickly and easily request a “VR Call” with other collaborators with a specific orbit in mind via their smartphone. Once accepted, they place their smartphone into a VR headset to be transported to a specific point in time in the mission.}

_{As opposed to having to find the right data at the right distance, the application features 5 information zones in which collaborators can quickly view mission information at optimal distances.}

_{Although there are many different types of VR, we thought mobile VR fell into this sweet spot: one that utilizes a proven and familiar device that we all love and use everyday (smartphones), but does so in an entirely new and immersive way that could simulate a mission environment.}

_{To keep users grounded in an entirely new immersive 3D experience, it makes use of familiar 2D visual systems and interface design conventions as seen smartphones, laptops and desktops, but in a way that introduces the user to the z-axis.}

_{Using VoIP, SpaceTalk seeks to mimic face-to-face conversations as much as possible with Mobile VR.}

_{Avatars are used to describe the types of input collaborators have with the virtual world: in particular their remote position and head position.}

_{To present our concept to a general audience, I helped my team design a poster that summed up our project.}

_{We also designed a headset prototype using Mozilla's A-Frame. This prototype was used to test the visual comfort of our UI in VR.}