Pillow talk—Curating delight for astronauts

Balint, Tibor S.; Lee, Changhee

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2019.03.048

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…However, when one regards the value of human well-being, science has a limitation in not perfectly understanding the internal intellection of astronauts [13]. The personal sphere of human attitude is relevant for understanding the natural function of religion, while the space habitat design is considered per the astronaut's physiological needs [14]. It means that astronauts should trust scientific logistics, but their mental security in risk moments should not just depend on mechanical and medical technologies [15].…”

Section: Interrelation Of Science With Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psycho-Religious Experiences in Deep Space History: Astronaut’s Latent Countermeasures for Human Risk Management

Kim

2023

Aerospace

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Current scientific developments have reached the stage where human aspirations of space exploration are not science fiction but a reality involving travelling to the Earth’s orbit, the Moon and Mars. In the second half of the twentieth century, international space agencies (like NASA, European Space Agency, and Russia) witnessed the professional experiments of official and commercial space projects, gradually unveiling the universe’s secrets. Astronautical research has predominantly been developed within the context of advanced materialism. The astronauts’ physical health has been protected by the technology of space medicine, while the socio-cultural aspect of psychological well-being was less regarded. As space-travel time is getting longer and more solitary, the evaluation of the mental environment of the astronauts during space travel or in technical crisis is necessary. Also, can the private sphere of astronauts help the public sphere of space safety or security? When and how can religious behaviour (or psycho-religious potentiality) be effective in the space community of long-term missions? This paper explores the sacred experiences of past astronauts in the non-scientific aspects of fearlessness, courage, stability, and confidence. It argues a new hypothesis that while the space team can theoretically depend on the visual and systematic data of the latest information technology (IT) and artificial intelligence (AI), the success of deep space missions (including Mars exploration), in terms of human risk management, is not always irrelevant to the strength of individual spirituality as an internal countermeasure of self-positivity in absolute hope. Furthermore, this aspect can be proved in the case studies of the American Christians’ willpower, Papal support, spontaneous Jewish astronauts, the institutional cooperation of the Russian Orthodox Church and its government, and the commitments of Asian and Islamic astronauts.

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Section: Interrelation Of Science With Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psycho-Religious Experiences in Deep Space History: Astronaut’s Latent Countermeasures for Human Risk Management

Kim

2023

Aerospace

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“…Considering that the crew on a long duration space mission to our planetary neighbor will be relatively small, it is imperative to focus on the astronauts' qualitative experiences to ensure their well-being. This needs to complement the support for their basic physiological and psychological needs in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs [9][10] [3]. Addressing higher level needs is expected to have a positive influence of crew health, and could reduce performance related risks for the mission.…”

Section: Communication and Interaction Barriersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It should be noted that a trip to the ISS is incomparably shorter than that to Mars. As such, improving the feeling of connection and focusing on human factors could be crucial for the future of deepspace exploration [3].…”

Section: Communication and Interaction Barriersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3 [5]-where cognitive playfulness includes playing with thinking, knowing, believing, expecting, rationalizing, and other such cognitive processesand a spectrum of qualitative displays [4] in terms of understanding how people shape their individual experience through qualities of phenomena. These ideas and thoughts were then associated with the question of how we might address higher-level astronaut needs on long-duration spaceflight, through an interface that provides an emotional connection and bridge between the space travellers and their home [3].…”

Section: Qualitative Contact and Decoupled Interactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Martian Delight: Exploring qualitative contact for decoupled communications

Lee

Balint

2022

Acta Astronautica

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Exploring farther into our solar system for planetary exploration will require the human crews to reside in their space transfer habitats for a long period of time. These explorers will also face isolation, owing to the sheer physical distance from the Earth, which may eventually affect their health and well-being. Furthermore, looking at a trip to Mars, astronauts will have to wait for at least forty minutes to receive updated round communications from Earth, due to the time it takes for the signal to travel the separation distance at the speed of light. Thus, when it comes to longduration crewed space missions, communication and the feeling of connection with their loved ones-friends and family-on Earth is crucial for the astronauts' well-being. In this context, exploring a new communication approach for long-duration spaceflight seems necessary for our missions to Mars. This paper attempts to introduce a new way of decoupled communication that enables astronauts to connect with their feelings towards their loved ones on Earth via embedded interactions, focusing on the idea of "qualitative contact". The idea of qualitative contact was inspired by one of our previous studies on the concept of "qualitative interface" in relation to HCI (Human-Computer Interaction), then extended to our case study for human-object interactions. Much of how we construct meaning in the real world tends to be qualitative rather than quantitative. Yet quantification has become a default method for displaying, presenting and communicating information. In this paper, we explore beyond the idea of ordinary distance communication and information exchange during deep space exploration. We introduce how human explorers in a space transfer habitat can qualitatively contact their loved ones on Earth during their long-duration space missions. We discuss our design processes, which includes the study of human-centredness, communication barriers, the ideation process, and prototype development with a boundary-object based demonstration. We believe that our communication method or tool could stimulate ideas for space habitat designs beyond today's technological solutions for long-duration and long-distance space missions. By advancing the astronauts' physiological and psychological well-being, human explorers could venture to expand our civilization deeper into the solar system. What are the ways to make astronauts feel connected with their family and friends back on Earth during their long-duration space missions? Here we share the idea of qualitative contact through a device we call Martian Delight-a device intended to advance the astronauts' well-being.

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