Developing an Augmented Reality Lunar Surface Navigation System

For astronauts, lunar Extravehicular Activity (EVA) operations are extraordinarily challenging to perform. Physically, they must perform demanding tasks while clothed in exhaustingly heavy space suits. Mentally, they must perform complicated tasks without error while exploring unfamiliar and uncharted locations. With the high value of each moment spent on the moon, immense time pressure also increases the mental load placed on these astronauts. The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) team participated in the 2022 NASA Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students (SUITS) Challenge and developed an augmented reality lunar surface navigation system, aiming at reducing the cognitive load for astronauts during their EVA operations. The overall design approach is to unify interfaces, separate planes for interactions, and maximize automation. The navigation system features an intuitive navigational aid, a three-dimensional path guide which is overlaid on the landscape, and a minimized user interface. Hardware components such as a tab-traversal style control are also incorporated to increase usability.