Improving sleep in space
My role in Project management, data science, uX, prototyping
Team Members:
Aerospace Medicine - Research, Project Management
Software Engineering - App Development
“To develop an operational sleep shift scheduling tool that provides autonomous customization of a schedule for sleep, exercise, and nutrition to manage fatigue”
Constraints: 48 Hours, A Digital Solution, Use of NASA data sets
Background Research (review of academic papers, relevant videos, interviews)
What are the variables that influence astronauts’ sleep?
What kind of solution can we develop within the time constraint?
Should we and/or which ones do we prioritize: sleep, exercise or nutrition?
Define
A digital solution for astronauts to use in space, that focuses on melatonin, as a variable that influences the circadian rhythm, to improve overall sleep quality.
Our solution considers three factors regarding sleep shifting:
1) Docking Time: Morning, Afternoon, Evening
2) Task vs. No Task
3) Landing Time: Morning, Afternoon, Evening
Photo by Jozemara Friorili Lemes from Pexels
Constraints regarding scheduling:
nap time has to occur either in morning or afternoon
exercise occurs either in the morning or afternoon
sleep time is fixed
meal time is fixed
Data:
Nutrition Data (NASA)
Dataset of Food & Beverages consisting of Melatonin
Spacewalk Duration (NASA)
Awarded Third Place Nationally
Limitations
only conducted internal testing and no external usability testing
no real-world user research (supplemented by research, watching secondary sources such as videos and interviews)
not all functions were developed (machine learning for prioritizing food with Melatonin)
dataset relevant to melatonin levels was not specific for astronauts.