PREVENTING DISASTER ON DANGEROUS MISSIONS:
HOW DESIGN THINKING CAN BE A USEFUL COMPLEMENT TO TECHNOLOGY IN ENVIRONMENTS LIKE NASA

The conception of travelling and living in space is based on the assumption that nothing unexpected will occur. When plans now are made for long duration manned space missions to Mars, the extreme conditions will increase the risk of disastrous outcomes. The technology level is becoming increasingly advanced and the mental strains on the crew will correspondingly grow. To let out anger, boredom, animosity, alienation and indifference in such a restricted and controlled habitation will imply substantial risks to the safety of both the astronauts and the mission as a whole. Technical solutions will not suffice to solve problems regarding emotions or interpersonal relations. This makes the design of the environment, and the objects in it, an even more demanding task.

Can industrial design help humans endure time, disconnected from what they know as reality? What will help individuals and the group to maintain sound emotional conditions? Raymond Loewy was the first industrial designer who got the opportunity to involve human factors into the space program in the late sixties. Some of his suggestions, like the introduction of a porthole for maintaining visual contact with the Earth, are considered to have had mayor influence on the success of those early missions.

Since 1998 the Division of Architecture and Development Studies at Lund University has had a continuous collaboration with NASA and the American space program in Houston. Through the project “S.T.A.R. Design, students from architecture and industrial design have got the opportunity to work with design issues on location in Houston.

This paper describes a student project in industrial design, about how to increase well-being on space missions, by communicating human relations through objects. Through the method of system analysis, mind maps and the use of “black box” a number of design criteria was established leading to a design proposal.

The project concluded that the solution lies in our ability to interpret the complexity of such extreme isolation. Due to the simplicity, and the anticipated versatility of the proposal, the suggested solution was implemented on the International Space Station as standard equipment for psychological support.
The project show how design thinking can work as problem solving in a context where the established organisation and specific demands limits the ability of the people involved to see beyond what comes naturally. It also illustrates the potential of design, taken out of its usual material context.

Capra, F. 1997; Haraldsson, H.V 1999, 2005