Alexandra Slabakis
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NASA SUITS × Carnegie Mellon · 2022
MoonBuddy at NASA
Helping future Artemis astronauts navigate the lunar surface with ease.
Published in UIST ↗
Hero image or video
Year
Jan – Sep 2022
Role
Design & Outreach
Team
3 Design Researchers
3 Engineers
Skills
Qualitative Research
Information Architecture
Usability Testing
Field Studies
Lo & Hi-Fi Prototyping
← Work
01 Overview
02 Problem
03 Research
04 Solution
05 Design
06 Testing
07 Reflection
Overview
Overview
At a glance
In early 2022, our team collaborated with NASA SUITS (Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students, NASA's annual design challenge) and Carnegie Mellon to design an AR (augmented reality) and voice-based headset interface for astronauts on upcoming Artemis lunar missions, NASA's program to return astronauts to the Moon.
Problem
Astronauts must navigate hazardous terrain, conduct time-sensitive geology research, and coordinate rescue operations, all while constrained by bulky Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) suits, the pressurized spacesuits worn outside the spacecraft, and limited resources.
What I did
I led research and communications, working directly with astronauts and engineers to better understand needs, pain points, and test usability under simulated lunar conditions.
Result
Our solution, powered by the Microsoft HoloLens 2 (a mixed-reality headset), introduced a novel navigational shader (a visual layer that outlines terrain edges) that reduced astronaut cognitive strain and earned “Most Innovative Feature” recognition at NASA Johnson Space Center. Our research was published in UIST (ACM's Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology).
14
User testing sessions
26
Design improvements
6
Bug fixes before NASA testing
Overview
In action
Video — MoonBuddy in action
Problem
Problem
Challenge
Future Artemis missions will push astronauts into more autonomous operations than ever before.
Unlike past Apollo missions where Mission Control Center (MCC) provided constant, step-by-step mission guidance, significant communication delays are imminent as we explore farther from Earth (a 1.3-second delay to the Moon, 20 minutes to Mars). This reality necessitates a fundamental redesign of astronaut tools.
Previous solutions, like paper cuff checklists and wrist-mounted displays, are cognitively taxing and interrupt situational awareness, especially when astronauts are constrained by bulky Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) suits.
Paper cuff checklist
Past solution: paper cuff checklists
Photo: NASA
Astronaut wearing paper cuff
Astronaut wearing a paper cuff
Photo: NASA
EVA mission timeline
Example of an Extra-Vehicular Activity (lunar surface) mission
Photo: NASA
NASA is asking for…
A context-aware interface that consolidates navigation, vitals, and documentation — reducing cognitive overhead while enabling safe, autonomous operations.
Research
Research
Preliminary research
Our early research combined primary expert interviews and archival analysis.
01
Expert interviews
We held semi-structured interviews with former astronaut Jay Apt, NASA engineers, and geology experts to understand operational realities and technical constraints.
02
Review audio of past missions
We analyzed publicly accessible audio files from Apollo missions to identify common pain points, communication breakdowns, and workflow inefficiencies experienced by astronauts in the field.
“Moving your finger in space is like picking up a gallon of milk.”
Quote 01 · Jay Apt, former NASA astronaut
▶
0:00 / 1:34
Apollo mission audio clip
Research
Pain points
Synthesizing our insights from expert interviews and archival analysis, our team identified the pain points we had to design for within our final solution.
Our team had to find a way to counteract the following difficulties with ease.
Physical & Environmental Conditions
Bulky EVA suit limits dexterity
Bulky spacesuit gloves make buttons impossible, requiring a completely hands-free system for astronauts to operate.
Harsh lunar lighting conditions
The Moon’s blinding glare and shadows require an interface that stays easy to read while revealing dangers in the terrain.
Unfamiliar & hazardous terrain
The Moon’s repetitive landscape makes it easy to get lost, requiring a system that provides constant, safe navigation.
Cognitive Overload & Mission Demands
High cognitive load
Astronauts are juggling intense mental workloads with limited time; the system design must reduce their mental strain.
Compromised situational awareness
Looking down at wrist displays results in blind spots, compromising astronauts’ awareness of their surroundings.
Time-sensitive & critical mission tasks
Geological sampling is a time-sensitive, multi-step task, requiring completion free of error and direct MCC guidance.
Astronaut Autonomy & Critical Information
Fragmented data streams
Key info like EVA task instructions or suit vitals is spread across separate displays, requiring a unified interface for all mission data.
Mission Control Center latency
Communication delays hinder real-time help from MCC; astronauts may need to handle all situations autonomously.
Lunar search & rescue (LSAR) emergencies
In an emergency, there is no system to automatically broadcast an astronaut’s location; it currently relies on MCC verbal communication.
Research
Design requirements
From our pain points, our team translated an outline of what our design must have based on the following necessities.
01
Operable while users are wearing EVA gloves and executing dexterous tasks.
02
Unobtrusive, easy to use, and decrease the cognitive load of users.
03
Astronauts must access EVA task instructions and suit vitals at any time.
04
Flexible enough to handle astronaut requests at any time.
05
Provide real-time navigation between any given points or crew members.
06
Must be able to communicate with EVA system crews without interference.
07
Provide environmental awareness of hazardous regions.
08
Clearly display warning messages for important anomalies.
Research
User needs
To summarize overall goals, needs, pain points, and success metrics for our two stakeholders.
Astronauts
Goals & needs
Hands-free operation · Intuitive commands · Minimal cognitive strain · Reliable in hazardous terrain
Pain points
Add pain points
Success metrics
Reduced cognitive load · Task completion efficiency · Improved situational awareness
Mission control engineers
Goals & needs
Add goals & needs
Pain points
Add pain points
Success metrics
Add success metrics
Research
How might we
Consolidating our insights led us to our guiding question.
How might we
How might we design an AR/voice-based EVA interface that empowers astronauts to navigate, communicate, and complete mission-critical tasks autonomously — without increasing cognitive strain?
Solution
Solution
Solution
MoonBuddy is a voice-based AR EVA interface to aid astronauts in communication, navigation, and lunar exploration, developed in Unity3D (a real-time 3D engine) for Microsoft HoloLens.
In our final solution, we decided to develop an AR program to assist astronauts in lunar tasks including navigation, science sampling, and rescue. In terms of operational control, we provided voice interaction interfaces which would allow the astronauts to have more autonomy and efficiency than before.
Navigation
Real-time long-range routing and short-range hazard avoidance using terrain mapping + edge detection shaders.
Scientific Sampling
Step-by-step guidance for geology documentation, adaptable for both novice and expert astronauts.
Lunar search & rescue (LSAR) emergencies
Emergency distress beacons with real-time location + guided navigation to assist teammates.
Vitals & Tasks
Always-available collapsible panels for suit vitals, instructions, and EVA checklists.
Solution
Findings
→ features
How each pain point became a design requirement, and then a feature.
Pain point
Requirement
Feature
Bulky EVA suit limits dexterity
Operable in EVA gloves
Voice commands for every action
Harsh lunar lighting conditions
Readable in glare and shadow
High-contrast HUD, recolored after night 1
Unfamiliar & hazardous terrain
Provide environmental awareness of hazardous regions.
Edge-highlighting hazard shader
Fragmented data streams
Tasks and vitals always available
Peripheral task list + vitals panel
Lunar search & rescue (LSAR) emergencies
Real-time navigation to crew
LunarSAR beacon on compass + map
Design
Design
Team sketching & brainstorming
One of the most important insights that we got from Jay was an understanding of the difficulties that arise from being in an environment like the Moon.
For instance, pressurized suits make it incredibly difficult to move, making gestural control systems difficult. Additionally, LED displays often were not clear in conditions of drastic lighting.
These first-hand user insights inspired us to integrate mixed-reality experiences and voice technology into our interface to make lunar exploration tasks easier for the users. With the development of AR headsets, we have viable alternatives that can provide a usable, clear and helpful interface that helps an astronaut orient themselves, have certainty that their suits are safe, and provides tools for clear documentation of geological or navigational tasks.
Brainstorm board
Team information architecture outline and UI brainstorm
Design
Information architecture
To better understand the organizational layout of our design, our team outlined the information architecture.
IA diagram
Finalized information architecture design guide
Design
Low-fidelity mockups
After our team sketched out a bunch of wireframes for how we were planning our thoughts, our team drew up low-fidelity (lo-fi) versions of how we wanted to envision our setup.
Mockup
Playing around with keeping the interface free of distraction, our team wanted to provide the astronaut with their immediate next task and a voice-activated menu of commands, reducing cognitive load.
Design
Mid-fidelity updates
Our team designed the user interface to lie in the periphery of the user. Many of these elements can be expanded to reveal more information, and hidden away to get back to the task at hand.
Quotation marks indicate voice commands you can say, like “Open Vitals”, “Next Task” and “Go to Station A”.
Mockup
Design
High-fidelity MVP
MVP — final HUD on the HoloLens 2
The final MoonBuddy interface
01
Static State
[Add one line on the static state: what the astronaut sees by default]
Feature 01
02
Keep Track of Missions with Task List
Living in the upper left corner, an astronaut can follow these onscreen instructions during the mission for current tasks, reducing cognitive load. The expanded version shows voice command suggestions in quotations, which could remind an astronaut how to frame & take a photo of a rock for a time-sensitive geology task.
Feature 02
03
Monitor Vitals & Environmental Conditions
The heads-up display (HUD), the interface layered over the astronaut's view includes vitals monitors showing extra-vehicular activity suit status from the Telemetry Server (the live feed of suit data), with the essential consumables always available with the remaining time. When expanded, it displays meters and color-coded warnings when vitals are out of safe range.
Feature 03
04
Provide Long-Range Navigation Assistance
MoonBuddy provides a linear compass to display and easily direct you to your assigned station. Keep a marker within forward range and start moving. As you do so, the overhead map indicates positions and updates your movement as the marker moves closer to your destination on the lunar surface.
Feature 04
05
Provide Short-Range Navigation Assistance
To keep you safe during the EVA journey with spatial mapping capabilities, MoonBuddy employs custom edge highlighting that reveals edges of protrusions and drops. Recognized as an innovative feature by NASA engineers & astronauts, the navigational shader aids the user in identifying hidden hazards on the rocky, uneven lunar terrain.
Feature 05
06
Guide Science Sampling Procedures
When you get to your destination, MoonBuddy displays the steps needed to complete the geology sampling process. Simply follow the instructions for describing a rock or regolith (loose lunar soil). When it’s time to document that space rock, simply say “Record photo” and it captures it all hands-free.
Feature 06
07
Facilitate Lunar Search & Rescue
MoonBuddy is equipped to receive Lunar Search and Rescue messages. When a LunarSAR message interrupts, the distressed crew member’s coordinates are displayed using the compass and map so you can start navigating ASAP. Meanwhile, you can send responses to the LunarSAR message to let them know you’re on the way.
Feature 07
Design
Navigational shader
Our innovative navigational shader!
Recognized as an innovative feature by NASA engineers & astronauts, the navigational shader aids the user in identifying hidden hazards as they navigate the rocky, uneven lunar surface terrain.
Without shader
With shader
Press, hold & swipe to reveal
Key decision
Decision
Reveal terrain edges with a custom shader instead of adding more on-screen info.
Evidence
Unfamiliar, hazardous terrain + harsh lighting made drops hard to judge.
Outcome
Named “Most Innovative Feature” by NASA engineers and astronauts.
Testing
Testing
Human-in-the-loop testing
Our team tested a mockup version on the Microsoft HoloLens 2, and asked participants to evaluate the prototype accordingly.
“I like how the voice interaction is very simple.”
Quote 02 · Participant
“The basic functionality is so intuitive, i.e. the task list, minimap and compass.”
Quote 03 · Participant
Indoor test
Indoor, good light
Outdoor test
Outdoor, poor light
Testing
Version #1 · Prototype
Our first night testing at NASA Johnson Space Center was a success, but led us to our main insight: the orange UI was too bright.
Night 1 · Version 1
Night 1 · Version 1
Key decision
Decision
Rebuild the color system between nights.
Evidence
Night 1: the orange UI was too bright in field conditions.
Outcome
Night 2: participants found MoonBuddy intuitive, from voice to layout.
Testing
Version #2 · MVP prototype
Our final version tested on the second night at NASA Johnson Space Center went incredibly well. Our participants found MoonBuddy intuitive to use, from the well-worded voice controls to the layout of the UI to the comfort of having personal health metrics available on the main navigation bar. Evaluating engineers and astronauts were most excited by our most innovative feature: the navigational shader, which was received with overwhelming acceptance as it clearly outlined the short-distance walkway, helping users safely navigate unfamiliar, rocky and uneven terrain.
Night 2 · MVP
Night 2 · MVP
Reflection
Reflection
Reflection
MoonBuddy was my first in-depth exploration into human-computer interaction under extreme environmental constraints.
The project taught me how human factors and technical limitations can catalyze design innovation, especially since every decision, from shader visibility to command syntax, impacted astronaut safety and cognition.
If expanded today, I’d explore
01
Adaptive multimodal feedback (audio spatialization + haptic alerts).
02
Dynamic UI adaptation based on real-time cognitive load.
03
Context-aware AR landmarks for spatial orientation in low-visibility terrain.
What I took away
This project reaffirmed my belief that well-designed systems are empathy in action, empowering users not just to perform tasks, but to perform them confidently under pressure.
Reflection
Thank you :)
Thank you for browsing :)
Interested in learning more? Please feel free to reach out on LinkedIn or my email!
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