Researchers from the SFU School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT) have created a virtual reality experience to help astronauts cope with mental health issues.
Dr. Bernhard Riecke, a professor from the school, and his team worked on the software known as Earthgazing VR to help those up in space with the sense of isolation and disconnection they might feel.
The VR experience aims to reconnect astronauts with the Earth by offering simulations of the planet’s scenery. These simulations include inspiring and peaceful depictions of the environment such as mountains, waterfalls, animals grazing and the sunset.
By having the astronauts enter nature-related simulations, the software’s goal is to evoke the same feelings of self-transcendent phenomena, including the overview effect, awaken in people. These feelings of awe and appreciation in turn can “ground” the astronauts back to Earth by reminding them of their humanness.
According to Katerina Stepanova, an SFU Ph.D. student involved in the project, it also helps them view their home planet differently, renewing their vigor and relieving any negative feelings.
“When witnessing the overwhelming beauty of Earth, astronauts also come to realize the fragility of our home planet and the interconnectedness of all life,” said Stepanova in an article released by the SFU newspaper. “They return to Earth with a renewed sense of connection and responsibility for our environment.”
The project’s in the process of being tested in Moscow as part of a Scientific International Research in Unique Terrestrial Station (SIRIUS) study alongside 70 other isolation-related experiments. Over the next seven months, six astronauts from bases around the world, including NASA, will continue to live in an emulation of a flight to bring forth feelings of separation from the rest of the world.
Aboard the facility spacecraft, they’re given the new program to curb the negative feelings they’ll eventually feel. The study began in November and will last until July 2022, an entire eight months to mimic a full flight to Mars.
The idea for Earthgazing VR was first thought up while working on another VR project earlier on which aimed to take people to space using the modern technology. The project offered viewers the chance to experience the overview effect, the feeling astronauts get when they first see Earth from above, in a simulation.
It ran exclusively in the V-Unframed exhibition, a showcase linking art with virtual reality that was held in Alliance Française Vancouver from Oct. 1 to Oct. 3.
