SpaceCHI: Designing Human-Computer Interaction Systems for Space Exploration

Space travel and becoming an interplanetary species have always been part of human’s greatest imagination. Research in space exploration helps us advance our knowledge in fundamental sciences, and challenges us to design new technology and create new industries for space. However, keeping a human healthy, happy and productive in space is one of the most challenging aspects of current space programs. Our biological body, which evolved in the earth specific environment, can barely survive by itself in space’s extreme conditions with high radiation, low gravity, etc. This is similar for the moons and planets in the solar system that humans plan to visit. Therefore, researchers have been developing different types of human-computer interfaces systems that support humans’ physical and mental performance in space. With recent advancements in aerospace engineering, and the democratized access to space through aerospace tech startups such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, etc., space research is becoming more plausible and accessible. Thus, there is an exciting opportunity for researchers in HCI to contribute to the great endeavor of space exploration by designing new types of interactive systems and computer interfaces that can support humans living and working in space and elsewhere in the solar system.