CUBESATS
THE SOCIAL DIMENSION Type: Duration: Core Staff:
Group/Individual 5 weeks Elio Caccavale Kirsty Ross Mil Stricevic
Partner:
Introduction
This project provides a framework to investigate alternative ways of interacting with low earth orbit small satellites. Working with partner space agency ‘Clyde Space’, we are asked to speculate ways in which CubeSats can shape design experiences within a social context. The outcome for this project will be presented in the form of an ‘alternative now’ where we are to explore our experience/service/ artefact in situ through storytelling in which our CubeSat proposal is interpersonally connected with life on planet Earth.
Thematic Launch 1 Research Seminar 3 Future Worlds 5 Design Direction 8 ‘Alternative Now’ 9 Develop Iterations 11 Refine Concept 17 Design Proposition 19 Final Presentation 38 Reflection 40
Thematic Launch
For this project, we had been asked to design alternative ways in which we can interact with low earth orbit satellites. To launch this project, we were given an introductory presentation from Andrew Strain, a representative from ‘Clyde Space,’ a Scottish based space agency who specialise in a form of low earth orbits satellites known as ‘CubeSats’. These miniature iterations of satellites are standardised in form and are designed to ‘piggyback’ off existing space shuttle missions in order to reduce cost dramatically for launching satellites into orbit. This approach could make launching and interacting with satellites more accessible and socially tangible in the near future. With the rapid acceleration of technology, CubeSats can present lots of potential for creating new interactions and experiences for us on Earth; as current satellites do for us on a daily basis: GP
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This infographic illustrates the process of launching small CubeSats into orbit
Following the introductory presentation, as a class we visited Clyde Space in order to gain further understanding of CubeSat technology. From the visit, we got the opportunity to see how the company can design and build satellites to be launched into orbit. We also got the chance to ask industry professionals about current and prospective applications for CubeSats. This gave us valuable insight to contextualise the company. Notably, Clyde Space have a wide client demographic that spans many different industries that normally wouldn’t have access to the opportunity to launch a satellite. Interestingly, many universities are making use of this opportunity, enabling the CubeSat to be a learning tool for education and space discovery.
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Research Seminar
In response to the visit to Clyde Space, in our tutor groups we were to collate our research together as a collective and present it to other groups in the class as part of a Research Seminar. The format choosen to present our research was STEEP cards, which we were to combine and cluster as a group. Unfortunately due to clashes with our dissertation hand-in, we never managed to meetup as a group to discuss our insights together. Nevertheless, I compiled my insights into an assortment of STEEP cards to present. Notably, a lot of my insights were technologically focused, so I decided to view my research from other facets to balance my research perspective. During the research seminar, as a group we presented our research to the class and recieved feedback on what STEEP cards were strongest to follow. Throughout this pitch, I didnt communicate my research as effectively as I would have liked. Hence, none of my STEEP cards were selected by the class to move forward with. This was disappointing as the research insights choosen didnt’t fit with my area of interest thus far. Therefore, I decided to seek out my own contextual inquiry to move forward with to ensure my direction flows with my research.
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Traveling into the unknown? been Lots of space has not ent discovered and so hav ce our oceans either. Hen could CubeSats give new insights into these unchartered waters?
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Giving back to the Planet... As we grow socially more conscious of our environmental changes, could CubeSats give new insight into how we view and interact with our environment?
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Our STEEP card research bank was plentiful but we should have worked closer as a group to ensure we could effectively cluster our insights
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Future Worlds
To help contextualise my research, I looked to my dissertation topic of ‘Posthumanism’ to qualify a future world to direct my design proposal towards. ‘Posthumanism’ being a philosophical concept that refers to transcending what it means to be human by means of technology. This topic is often classified under science fiction and technological speculation, but like satellites, fiction can path the way for ideas to become a factual reality in the future. Hence I found this concept to be an exciting stimulus to contextualise CubeSats within a future world.
Depiction of a ‘Space Elevator’ concept which could be built in the near future to help transcend humanity into space without using rocket power
Although the posthuman is a long way from ever being attained, could our attempts to explore and cultivate space with satellite technology be considered an act of transcending what it means to be ‘human’? If so, then astronauts could be deemed to have experienced a posthuman experience by transcending the earth and exploring further than humanly possible through technology. However, only a few hundred of the billions of people on earth have ever explored this frontier. Exploring space allows for new perspectives and ideas of what we consider our future to be.
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“Space is hard - but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together.” Richard Branson
Founder of Virgin Galactic
Conceptual image of the next generation space vessel by Virgin Galactic which will aim to make space tourism a reality
From my initial research, a key area of interest was Space Tourism. An endeavour piloted by the likes of SpaceX and Virgin Galactic that will hopefully soon offer commerical space flight. Something that only few astronauts have ever experienced will become a tangible reality. However, this method is risky and extremely expensive where a few minutes experiencing zero gravity will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, hence these missions haven’t launched. Could a CubeSat bridge this gap and enable people on the surface a chance to experience space instead?
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Powerful quote from one of the Apollo 11 astronauts who first stepped foot on the moon
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Design Direction
Synthesising my research insights and opportunties together, I defined a core design direction to develop and iterate from. Following my discovery phase, Space Tourism was one of my strongest future themes; with this area of the space market still in it’s infancy, this domain would be suitable to reveal an ‘alternative now’. Within this field, I choose to focus on experiential learning as our visit to Clyde Space identified education as a growing market for CubeSats with many world leading universities as clients. From this direction, I then identified some key design drivers that should frame my core design opportunity within an ‘alternative now.’
DISCOVERY DOMAIN
SPACE TOURISM DEFINE DIRECTION
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING MICRO TO MACRO PERSPECTIVES BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SPACE STEPPING TOWARDS OUR FUTURE IN SPACE 8
Alternative Now
Responding to my design direction, I had been asked to design an ‘Alternative Now’ concept that will depict new ways of interacting with low earth orbit satellites. As such, I approached this task by analysing what could be technologically possible now. Looking into current technology trends, a key opportunity that could be harnessed in the near future by CubeSats is live streaming. Conventional larger satellites already have this feature but as technology becomes more compact, CubeSats could utilise this feature soon. With regards to Space Tourism, live streaming can enable a host of new possibility and interactions with space being a destination of discovery. Looking back at my research, I wanted to approach this opportunity as ‘Traveling without Travel’ given live streaming can allow people to be in places in real time without physically moving at all. I designed an alternative CubeSat in response to this in order to develop design iterations of this alternative now through developmental models.
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High fidelity visual of how my alternative CubeSat could look like as it features 360 degree imagery sensors to capture space in real time through live streaming
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Develop Iterations
During this project, we were encouraged to explore our ‘alternative now’ development through making. As an avid model maker, this approach excited me as I believe making tangible prototypes is the best way to experience and stress test an idea. As such, following an idea I quickly began mocking up physical prototypes in response. This approach of ‘thinking through making’ allowed me to iteratively develop my idea into a series of design developments. From these developments, I managed to conceptualise a tangible design response to my alternative now proposal.
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Space Specs
Reacting to my ‘alternative now’ concept, live streaming content has never been more diverse as we progress further into the 21st Century. As such, my first iteration focused on virtual reality as a platform to interact and consume such content. ‘Space Specs’ enable a live stream of the CubeSats 360degree imagery that users can pan around with using the VR accelerometer technology. Although this is a proficient method of consuming a live feed of space, this iteration was basic in its interaction as it only had one touch point and gesture to access the experience.
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Space Spy
Elaborating on the lack of interaction and gesture that Space Specs suffered. Space Spy was a hand-held space viewer that featured 6 unique perspectives that the CubeSat sensor array follows. As such, when you look into each spyhole a new view will appear live from space. Therefore this iteration features a more fun interaction as it encourages you to search and find your own narrative on the perspectives given. Although this model featured interesting gestures, the interaction immersiveness wasn’t as effective as users were only seeing the new dimension through a tiny lense.
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Space Switch
Responding to the ineffective immersiveness that Space Spy was affected by. Space Switch is a fully immersive environment switcher that users encapsulate themselves in to ‘switch’ off from Earth reality and explore the wonders of Space. Again, this iteration applied an equally fun gesture towards its interaction with Space as users were encouraged to fluctuate between both environments. Hence this iteration was adequate but the limitations of the perimeters of which users can interact with Space deemed this iteration rather restricted to how social the interaction can be.
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Space Sim
Acknowledging the physical restrictions of Space Switch through scaling the experience up. Space Sim is a large scale experience simulator that featured 360degree screens to project the live view of space onto. This experience was designed for groups in mind instead of personal use like the previous iterations, which makes the experiential impact even more special as you experience it with others. Although this iteration presents much promise, there is possibility to elevate the intended experience through additional senses and emulation of real space environment.
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Space Scape
Cumulating my exploration of the ‘alternative now’, Space Scape provides the most realistic space experience through additional sensory and motion abilities. Through use of a custom designed Space Suit, users can plug into the space environment by connecting their suit to a ‘SpacePak’ which will power the suit to emulate space conditions including temperature changes and pressure. By choreographing a floating routine, users can experience as close to zero gravity as possible and interact with CubeSat liveview streaming on a new level as a collective.
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Refine Concept
Following my irratative development phase, I chose a Space Scape as a concept to refine as it presented the be most immersive and impactful with the experience offered. To refine this concept, I needed to contextualise this experience. Hence I choose Glasgow Science Musuem as an ideal location to host this experience as it can compliment its Planetarium exhibit. With this context in mind, I visited the site to analyse how feasible such a proposal would be and found an area within the building that was ideal. Therefore, stakeholders for this experience include Clyde Space would provide the live stream through a CubeSat and Glasgow Science Centre who would fund the Space Scape experience.
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Design Proposition
To communicate our design proposal, we were asked to convey our service or experience in a realistic context. Hence I decided to use a series of photos to depict my ‘alternative now’ narrative by showing the intended user experience of SpaceScape. As the Glasgow Science Center is accessible by all, I mirrored this demographic for my alternative experience to ensure that this proposal was viable. As such, my user journey will depict the typical interaction of a service consumer(s).
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A group of friends approach the Glasgow Science Centre and notice the promotion of a new experience installation, SpaceScape. Enticed by the advertisement, they decided to go and see what the experience is about.
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Inside the Glasgow Science Centre, the group visit the installation were they see others approach the SpaceScape portal in spacesuits. Excited by this prospect, they want to join in and experience it too.
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Once inside the SpaceScape zone, the group put on their respective spacesuits in order to gain access to the space ‘Portal’ where they will be transported into outer space!
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The ‘Portal’ opens with a blinding light as the group venture inside to boldly go where only few have gone before. This symbolises a transition in environment from Earth to orbit.
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Once inside the ‘Portal’, the group are given instructions to connect their spacesuits to hanging ‘SpacePaks’ hanging from the ceiling. This will enable them to experience space on a realistic level as the ‘SpacePak’ emulates the senses of space into the connected spacesuit.
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To enable this experience, the ‘Portal’ is linked to its CubeSat in orbit that transmits the visual and sensory data to the Portal live from space. Allowing the group to travel to space without transcending the Earth.
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Inside the Portal, the CubeSat environment is beamed in real time. Alongside the visual and sensory emulation. The SpacePaks allow the group to ‘float’ in orbit - just as an astronaut would freefall in space, simulating as close to zero gravity as possible on Earth.
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The experience has given the group a new perspective and affinity with space as SpaceScape enables Earths orbit to become a tangible destination for discovery and learning.
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Following the SpaceScape experience, the group were given complimentary SpaceSpecs to enable them to live stream from the CubeSat whenever and wherever, extending their affinity with space and the CubeSat.
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Some of the models I choose to show the Clyde Space representative during our project’s final presentation
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Final Presentation
Concluding our project, we were to give a timed slide show known as a ‘Peachy Keachy’ to an audience of the class and Andrew Strain as a representation from Clyde Space. Telling my storyboard as a narrative during my presentation helped to concisely communicate what my concept was about. To help qualify my proposal, I conducted some user feedback at the Glasgow Science Centre in the week running up to the presentation, finding that the concept was easily understandable by both visitors and staff at the Planetarium and more crucially was in agreement about the experiential learning benefits that a real-time live experience could bring to the existing framework. In terms of viability, the staff were very helpful in providing insight into the background interactions they acknowlege were going on now, having told me that the Science Centre were looking to refurblish an entire floor worth of attractions later this year, with a potential budget that could stretch towards the tens of millions region - which could most certainly be condersidered an enticing ‘alternative now’ for both stakeholders. This insight impressed during the pitch but overall it was my model making that the group were really keen to explore. Bringing along some models to discuss, I felt very comfortable explaining the concept through the semantics of the models. Although I thought the presentation was successful and the client was pleased with my outcome, I believe I could have invested more time into the detailing of my proposal as some of the communication is very literal. Nevertheless, I was proud of what I managed to deliver during my final presentation.
Image of me presenting my slideshow presentation to Andrew from Clyde Space and rest of the class
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Finally, a snapshot of the SpaceScape promotional poster depicting the interaction enabled via CubeSat technology
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Reflection
In hindsight, this project felt short in duration due to the intersperced nature of the deadlines in between the project but the outcome of working in partnership with live client Clyde Space was very rewarding and fulfilling as I believe it adds an element of viability to a proposal potentially progressing into a possibility - which overall was the essence of this project, how do we make the previously unpossible a soon to be reality. Although the interspersed deadlines during this project made achieving deliverables challenging in some respects, I felt I was clever in trying to sythesise my dissertation topic in with this project to help give me a firm grasp of a future world to focus on throughout. I feel this was an efficient approach towards a speculative outcome as everything could be linked back to the one conceptualisation of the future - posthumanism. However, when you invest so much time and effort into a particular project, thesis or stimulus, you can often become more critical of yourself and the work you deliver. Technology and Futurology are personal passions of mine and something I aspire to learn about and enquire about everyday, so as this project ties closely in with these areas of inquiry - I wanted to achieve a lot within this project. Hence, although I am proud of the outcomes I delivered, I believe there was so more to achieve to holistically conclude this project. As such I believe I could have been more thorough with the research phase at the beginning of the project. Although I planned early on to sythesis this phase with my dissertation topic, I felt I could have invested more time and effort in investigating the bounds of what is possible with the technology as this would have helped qualify my proposal more from an engineering feasibility and a service viability perspective. Nevertheless, I believe my design direction was strong and helped me to attain a successful outcome that utlised CubeSat technology to unlock new interactions and social dynamics. However, where I have struggled is in the communication of my concept as a service. I found this difficult to illustrate in a concise and cohesive way but this experience has taught me to consider alternative communication of a proposal through 3D models and experiential artefacts. As such, I believe that I should have highlighted the stakeholder benefits and consumer touchpoints more effectively to demonstrate the value that my proposition could bring to all parties within this service.
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