Weez Blog

Constance Adams : the TransHab case study

TransHab is an inflatable spacecraft.

Human Factors engineer. The initial design treated the human inhabitants as an afterthought.

The challenge was to interpret specifications, separate functions, into metrics that the engineers would understand.

The trick was finding numbers that they would understand. 40,000.00/hr. Because of poor design, the astronauts were disoriented each time they entered a new node. It would take an hour to reorient themselves. Nothing is self-evident.

If you canít visualize it, donít build it.

In sketches, the drafters could not bring themselves to draw individuals using a single wall as a floor on both sides. (Astronauts on either side, feet planted on the same plane, one seemingly upside down). If they couldnít draw it, that meant they couldnít map it, which meant neither could the builders, nor the astronauts ñ it wonít work.

The progression fo the sketches, anecdotes of requirements, limitations, specifications and usability were fascinating.

The mantra ñ nothing is self-evident. Basic human needs are not at the forefront of the engineers in the design process ñ at least not historically at NASA, there is a definite need for a user advocate.

Itís designed, prototypedÖWhat next?

Everyone wants the future; no one wants to pay for it.

There is much to be learned about people living in a closed system. What we can learn so much jives with the UN Millennium Development Goals.

http://www.mother-ship.org
http://www.spacearchitect.org
http://www.earth.jsc.nsaa.gov/sseop/efs