Helmet Mounted Display Development for Spacewalk Underwater Training
Our lab collaborated with NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) to design and test an extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuit helmet-mounted display (HMD) to enhance astronaut situational awareness during underwater EVA training. An EVA HMD will enable astronauts to monitor and react to real-time information including physiological biometrics, spacesuit status, environmental factors, task procedures, and navigation aids. To meet operational EVA challenges, HRVIP partnered with the JSC’s Human Physiology, Performance, Protection, and Operations (H-3PO) Lab to create HMD prototypes and test them during underwater EVA training in JSC’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) in 2020-2022. Feedback from these HMD evaluations will inform future heads-up displays, both for EVA training and for the next-generation spacesuit.