SIRIUS - Virtual Earthgazing to mitigate effects of sensory isolation

profile

SIRIUS (Scientific International Research in Unique Terrestrial Station) is a series of on-land iso­la­tion exper­i­ments mod­el­ling long-term space­flight in order to assess the psy­chophys­i­o­log­i­cal effects of iso­la­tion on a crew and pre­pare for long-duration space­flights, such as a trip to Mars. An 8-month-long iso­la­tion study com­menced in Moscow on Nov 4th, 2021, where a crew of 6 people (from Roscosmos, NASA and space agency of Arabic Emirates) went into a spe­cial facil­ity mod­el­ling a space­craft, remain­ing there until July 2022  sim­u­lat­ing an extra­plan­e­tary jour­ney and par­tic­i­pat­ing in 70 exper­i­ments pre­pared by inter­na­tional research teams.

As part of a DLR spon­sored study imple­mented by Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and led by PI Alex Stahn  a VR expe­ri­ence was designed to aug­ment sen­sory stim­u­la­tion during pro­longed iso­la­tion and confinement.The approach is specif­i­cally tar­geted at astro­nauts to mit­i­gate some of the psy­cho­log­i­cal stres­sors asso­ci­ated with long-duration exploratory space mis­sions. The VR expe­ri­ence was designed to their con­nec­tion to Earth and human­ity as well as the impor­tance of their own mis­sion. The ele­ments of the vir­tual expe­ri­ence were inspired by research on self-transcendent phe­nom­ena such as med­i­ta­tion, wit­ness­ing vast nature, awe-inspiring aurora and solar eclipse, and the overview effect that have been shown to have pos­i­tive effects on behav­ior, mental well-being, and health.

Here’s the recent GlobalNews cov­er­age on our SIRIUS Earthgazing project: [note that this project was cre­ated by a whole team of people as described in the below cred­its, not just one PhD stu­dent]

 

Here’s how Alex Kitson explained the users’ jour­ney in her recent TEDx talk

30 sec Preview of Awedyssey paper

More project details of SIRIUS

SIRIUS book­let .pdf

record­ing of Experiment Completion Ceremony on July 3, 2022:

Contributions

Alex Stahn: Funding acqui­si­tion, Project admin­is­tra­tion, Supervision, Conceptualization, Methodology (Experimental Design), Resources; Bernhard Riecke: Conceptualization, Methodology (Experimental Design, Narrative con­cept), Supervision, Resources; Noah Miller: Software, Methodology (Art Design, Experimental Design, Experience Design & Development), Data Curation;  John Desnoyers-Stewart: Software, Methodology (Art Design, Experience Design & Development, Narrative Concept); Katerina Stepanova: Methodology (Art Design, Narrative con­cept, Voiceover, Experimental Design), Investigation, Data Curation; Ashu Adhikari: Software, Methodology (Art Design, Experience Design & Development); Patrick Pennefather: Methodology (Art Design, Sound Design); Alex Kitson: Methodology (Narrative con­cept, Art Design); Denise Quesnel: Methodology (Narrative con­cept, Art Design); Katharina Brauns: Methodology (Experimental Design), Data Curation, Investigation; Anika Friedl-Werner: Methodology (Experimental Design), Data Curation, Investigation

 

Artists Credits

Artists: Noah Miller, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Katerina Stepanova, Ashu Adhikari, Bernhard Riecke, Patrick Pennefather, Alex Kitson, Denise Quesnel Experience Design and Development: Noah Miller, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Ashu Adhikari Direction: Bernhard Riecke Narrative and Concept: Katerina Stepanova, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Alex Kitson, Denise Quesnel   Voiceover: Katerina Stepanova Sound Design: Patrick Pennefather 

Publications and exhibits

Miller, Noah, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Ekaterina R. Stepanova, Ashu Adhikari, Bernhard E Riecke, Patrick P Pennefather, Alexandra Kitson, and Denise Quesnel. 2023. “Awedyssey.” Curated Mixed Reality Exhibition pre­sented at the Cosmic Nights: Humans in Space, H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, November 23. https://events.sfu.ca/event/37966-cosmic-nights-humans-in-space.
Miller, Noah, Ekaterina R. Stepanova, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Ashu Adhikari, Alexandra Kitson, Patrick Pennefather, Denise Quesnel, et al. 2023. “Awedyssey: Design Tensions in Eliciting Self-Transcendent Emotions in Virtual Reality to Support Mental Well-Being and Connection.” In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, 189–211. DIS ’23. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3563657.3595998.
Stepanova, Ekaterina R., K. Brauns, A Friedl-Werner, Noah Miller, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Ashu Adhikari, Bernhard E. Riecke, and Alexander C. Stahn. 2022. “A Neurophenomenological Approach to Better Understand the Effects of Eliciting Positive Experiences in Virtual Reality.” Poster pre­sented at the Phenomenological Methods in Neuroscience and Consciousness Research work­shop, University of Zürich. (Download)
Stepanova, K. (2021, October 31). Virtual real­ity can combat iso­la­tion with awe and empa­thy — on Earth and in space. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/virtual-reality-can-combat-isolation-with-awe-and-empathy-on-earth-and-in-space-170189
Kitson, Alexandra J. 2021. “How We Can Use Virtual Reality to Support Our Mental Health.” Talk pre­sented at the TEDxSFU, Vancouver, BC, Canada, November. https://www.ted.com/talks/alexandra_kitson_how_we_can_use_virtual_reality_to_support_our_mental_health.
Sirius. (2021, October 1). [Curated & peer-reviewed Virtual Reality Exhibition]. V-Unframed, Vancouver, BC, Canada. https://www.alliancefrancaise.ca/v-unframed/the-artworks/sirius/
Miller, Noah, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Ekaterina R. Stepanova, Ashu Adhikari, Alexandra J. Kitson, Denise T. Quesnel, Patrick Pennefather, and Bernhard E. Riecke. 2021. “Sirius.” Curated & peer-reviewed Virtual Reality Exhibition pre­sented at the V-Unframed, Vancouver, BC, Canada, October 1. https://www.alliancefrancaise.ca/v-unframed/the-artworks/sirius/.

Media coverage

record­ing of Experiment Completion Ceremony on July 3, 2022:

SFU project to help astro­nauts deal with iso­la­tion. (2021, December 9). In Global News. Global News. https://globalnews.ca/video/8439499/sfu-project-to-help-astronauts-deal-with-isolation/
Simon Fraser University — Earthgazing VR expe­ri­ence to help astro­nauts cope with lone­li­ness. (2021, November 5). Education News Canada. https://educationnewscanada.com/social/jwjy/article/education/level/university/1/928654/Earthgazing-VR-experience-to-help-astronauts-cope-with-loneliness.htm
Earthgazing VR expe­ri­ence to help astro­nauts cope with lone­li­ness. (2021, November 3). SFU News — Simon Fraser University. https://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/stories/2021/11/earthgazing-vr-experience-to-help-astronauts-cope-with-lonelines.html
SFU researchers create vir­tual real­ity expe­ri­ence to help astro­nauts manage lone­li­ness in space. (2021, November 22). The Peak. https://the-peak.ca/2021/11/sfu-researchers-create-virtual-reality-experience-to-help-astronauts-manage-loneliness-in-space/
Sajwar, R. (2021, November 16). This New Earthgazing VR Experience Will Help Astronauts Cope With Loneliness In Space. Wonderful Engineering. https://wonderfulengineering.com/this-new-earthgazing-vr-experience-will-help-astronauts-cope-with-loneliness-in-space/
McDonald, B. (2021, November 11). Canadian VR tech­nol­ogy will aid iso­la­tion effects on a sim­u­lated long dura­tion space flight. CBC Radio. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/canadian-vr-technology-will-aid-isolation-effects-on-a-simulated-long-duration-space-flight-1.6245516
Earthgazing VR expe­ri­ence to help astro­nauts cope with lone­li­ness – SFU News – Simon Fraser University News | Prometheism Transhumanism Post Humanism. (2021, November 7). https://www.euvolution.com/prometheism-transhumanism-posthumanism/space-exploration/earthgazing-vr-experience-to-help-astronauts-cope-with-loneliness-sfu-news-simon-fraser-university-news/
SFU’s Earthgazing VR Experience Can Help Astronauts Deal with Isolation. (2021, November 5). AR VR News. https://arvrnews.co/vr-news/sfus-earthgazing-vr-experience-can-help-astronauts-deal-with-isolation/
Earthgazing VR expe­ri­ence to help astro­nauts cope with lone­li­ness. (2021, November 3). https://www.myscience.org/en/news/2021/earthgazing_vr_experience_to_help_astronauts_cope_with_loneliness-2021-sfu
B.C. student’s VR tech gets lift off in exper­i­ment on astro­naut lone­li­ness. (2021, December 10). MSN. https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/technology/bc-students-vr-tech-gets-lift-off-in-experiment-on-astronaut-loneliness/ar-AARHrNu
Karamali, K. (2021, December 10). B.C. student’s VR tech gets lift off in exper­i­ment on astro­naut lone­li­ness | Globalnews.ca. Global News. https://globalnews.ca/news/8440729/sfu-virtual-reality-space-astronauts-loneliness/

Support & Acknowledgement

The study is sup­ported through DLR grant 50WB1915 and ESA project AO-SIRIUS-2019 (PI: Dr. AC Stahn, Charité Berlin) and addi­tional sup­port SSHRC and NSERC

funding_BMWi_Office_Farbe_en_WBZfunding-Logo_Charite.svgNSERC