Testing Google Glass for Mars navigation

‘OK glass, open the fridge,’ our cameraman Filip Koubek is standing in the kitchen area of our approximately 25 square metre living/working room with a pair of plastic shades on his nose, messing around. It was a couple of days ago when we first tested Google’s hottest innovation – the wearable Google Glass gadget – and the ‘OK, glass’ phrase, used for command confirmation, really stuck with us. Our crew’s commander and a Florida-Institute-of-Technology-based extreme environments architect Ondrej Doule brought a Google Glass set for an ergonomics study that would try to assess its usability when integrated into a space … Continue reading Testing Google Glass for Mars navigation

Mars day 1: 60 gallons for 6 people?

By Tereza Pultarova It must have been some time in August when I received an email from a friend of mine, a Florida- Institute-of-Technology-based extreme environments architect Ondrej Doule. He was putting together a research crew to apply for a two-week rotation at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, the USA. He needed a journalist aboard to manage the communications. I didn’t have to think twice. I knew immediately that this is going to be a pretty extraordinary experience. Mars Desert Research Station, run by the Mars Society, is a Mars analog habitat in the middle of a high … Continue reading Mars day 1: 60 gallons for 6 people?