Alexandra Slabakis
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Helping future Artemis astronauts navigate the lunar surface with ease.
Published in UIST ↗
Year
Jan – Sep 2022
Role
Design & Outreach
Team
3 Design Researchers, 3 Engineers
Skills
Qualitative Research, IA, Usability Testing, Field Studies, Prototyping
Hero image or video
← Work
01 Overview
02 Problem
03 Research
04 Solution
05 Design
06 Testing
07 Final thoughts
01 — Overview
Problem
What I did
Result
User testing sessions
Design improvements
Bug fixes before NASA testing
Tested at night at NASA’s rock yard.
Video — MoonBuddy in action
02 — Problem
Future Artemis missions will push astronauts into more autonomous operations than ever before.
Unlike past Apollo missions where Mission Control Center 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
Photo: NASA
Astronaut wearing paper cuff
Photo: NASA
EVA mission timeline
Photo: NASA
NASA is asking for…
A context-aware interface that consolidates navigation, vitals, and documentation — reducing cognitive overhead while enabling safe, autonomous operations.
03 — Research
2 methods
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.
“Moving your finger in space is like picking up a gallon of milk.”
Quote 01 · Jay Apt, former NASA astronaut
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.
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0:00 / 1:34
9 pain points · 3 conditions
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
Bulky suits limit dexterity
Bulky spacesuit gloves make buttons impossible, requiring a completely hands-free system for astronauts to operate.
Harsh lunar lighting
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 load & mission demands
High cognitive load
Astronauts juggle intense mental workloads with limited time; the system must reduce their mental strain.
Compromised situational awareness
Looking down at wrist displays creates blind spots, compromising awareness of their surroundings.
Time-critical tasks
Geological sampling is a time-sensitive, multi-step task that must be completed free of error with MCC guidance.
Autonomy & critical information
Fragmented data streams
Task instructions and suit vitals are spread across separate displays, requiring one unified interface.
Mission Control latency
Communication delays hinder real-time help from MCC; astronauts may need to handle situations autonomously.
Search & rescue emergencies
No system automatically broadcasts an astronaut’s location in an emergency; it relies on MCC verbal communication.
8 requirements
From our pain points, our team translated an outline of what our design must have based on the following necessities.
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2 stakeholders
To summarize overall goals, needs, pain points, and success metrics for our two stakeholders.
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
Goals & needs
Add goals & needs
Pain points
Add pain points
Success metrics
Add success metrics
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?
04 — Solution
4 core capabilities
MoonBuddy is a voice-based AR EVA interface to aid astronauts in communication, navigation, and lunar exploration, developed in Unity3D for Microsoft HoloLens.
In our final solution, we developed an AR program to assist astronauts in lunar tasks including navigation, science sampling, and rescue. For operational control, voice interaction gives astronauts more autonomy and efficiency than before.
Navigation
Long-range routing and short-range hazard avoidance using terrain mapping + edge detection shaders.
Scientific sampling
Step-by-step geology documentation for novice and expert astronauts.
Search & rescue (LSAR)
Distress beacons with real-time location and guided navigation.
Vitals & tasks
Always-available panels for suit vitals, instructions, and checklists.
05 — Design
One of the most important insights we got from Jay was an understanding of the difficulties that arise from being in an environment like the Moon.
Pressurized suits make it incredibly difficult to move, making gestural control systems difficult. LED displays often were not clear in conditions of drastic lighting.
These first-hand insights inspired us to integrate mixed-reality experiences and voice technology, giving astronauts a clear interface that helps them orient themselves, trust that their suits are safe, and document geological or navigational tasks.
Brainstorm board
To better understand the organizational layout of our design, our team outlined its information architecture.
IA diagram
3 rounds · sketch to HoloLens
After sketching out wireframes, our team drew up lo-fi versions, then refined them through mid-fi into the MVP.
01 · Lo-fi
Mockup
Immediate next task + a voice-activated menu, free of distraction.
02 · Mid-fi
Mockup
Peripheral layout with a vitals panel and compass.
03 · MVP
Mockup
Full HUD: task list, compass, map and vitals.
Our team designed the interface to live in the periphery of the astronaut’s view — expanded when needed, hidden to get back to the task at hand.
MVP prototype — hero screen / carousel
7 features
Seven features, always one glance away.
Feature 01 screen
01
Static state
The interface lives in the periphery. Elements expand to reveal more and hide away to get back to the task. Quotation marks mark voice commands like “Open Vitals” and “Next Task”.
Feature 02 screen
02
Task list
Upper-left onscreen instructions for current tasks. Expanded, it suggests voice commands — like how to frame and photograph a rock.
Feature 03 screen
03
Vitals & conditions
Suit status from the Telemetry Server, with consumables and remaining time always visible. Expanded, it shows meters and color-coded warnings.
Feature 04 screen
04
Long-range navigation
A linear compass directs you to your assigned station while the overhead map updates your position as you get closer.
Feature 05 screen
05
Short-range navigation
Spatial mapping and edge highlighting reveal protrusions and drops — the feature NASA called most innovative.
Feature 06 screen
06
Science sampling
Step-by-step geology sampling instructions. Say “Record photo” to document a rock hands-free.
Feature 07 screen
07
Lunar search & rescue
A LunarSAR message shows the distressed crew member’s coordinates on the compass and map, and lets you reply that you’re on the way.
Most innovative · NASA JSC
The navigational shader — recognized by NASA engineers and astronauts as our most innovative feature.
Without shader
With shader
Press, hold & swipe to reveal
06 — Testing
14 sessions
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
Outdoor test
2 nights · NASA Johnson Space Center
Two nights of testing with NASA engineers and astronauts.
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.
Version #1 — Prototype
Version #2 — MVP prototype
Our final version tested on the second night at NASA Johnson Space Center went incredibly well. Participants found MoonBuddy intuitive to use, from the well-worded voice controls to the layout of the UI to having personal health metrics on the main navigation bar. Engineers and astronauts were most excited by the navigational shader, which clearly outlined the short-distance walkway and helped users safely navigate unfamiliar, rocky terrain.
Version #2 — MVP prototype
07 — Final thoughts
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
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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.
Interested in learning more? Please feel free to reach out on LinkedIn or my email!
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