Experiment

JAXA's Education Payload Observation (EPO) "How to live comfortable in space" was performed on board Kibo

JAXA's Education Payload Observation (EPO) "How to live comfortable in space - a basic research on the room-size designing of a building in space based on human psychology and movement under microgravity"* was performed on board the Japanese Experiment Module, Kibo.

*Principal Investigator (PI): Kazuhiko Nishide, Professor, School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo

Through relaxing and having conversation under microgravity environment, this artistic theme searches for the relationship between humans and the space such as a comfortable room size and interpersonal distance in a limited space without the concept of ceiling or floor.

The theme was performed by astronauts Akihiko Hoshide and Sunita Williams, from around 8:00 to after 9:00 p.m., Saturday on October 13, 2012.

This research brings us knowledge and technique to live unconstrained in a limited space and is expected to lead to a comfortable room designing in space in the future.

Prof. Nishide monitors the proceeding from the User Operations Area at the Tsukuba Space Center (TKSC).

【Remarks from the PI, Prof. Nishide】

It was a great research opportunity because the differences of a sense of space and the interpersonal behavior between space and ground became clearer than I expected. The results will be useful in considering a better way to live in space and on the ground.

*All times are Japan Standard Time (JST)