The most human thing of all is to love. How will it be done when persuing careers in outer space?
AUTUMN 2022
To facilitate communication during long duration space travel there is a need of new communication platforms. Traveling outside the Earth-Moon orbit means delays in signals. When we lose the possibility for real-time conversations we lose access to inter-personal activities that helps us build connection. The project has focused on how a digital platform could be designed in order to keep connection and enable a sense of emotional closeness when we are traveling far away from home.
How do you stay engaged in long distance relationships?
1. Being able to see each other’s faces.
Seeing your partners face regularly is expressed as one of the most important part of long distance relationships.2. Sharing external content to spark conversation.
Sharing content keeps long-distance conversations from becoming stagnant and focused on mundane daily events.3. Sharing personal content.
Sharing images, audio, messages and/or videos enables partners to stay connected with the day-to-day activities. Intimate disclosures are especially important because it allows couples to compensate for decreased face-to-face contact.
Letter-like correspondance aided by visual and audio based formats.
The letter function is promoting sharing visual content and audio based messaging. When writing a letter you will start by typing your message, with options to include images and video straight into the text for a new interactive aspect to the reading experience and to enhance the feeling of experience something together. The love letter is video and image based with options to include both text and audio. The message is meant for those intimate moments between partner and therefore it is only available to view for a limited time after opened. Writing a postcard can be used for sharing quick glimpses of everyday life.
Shared calendar for keeping track of important life events.
The shared calendar is meant for sharing between family members and/or friends. To include common special dates makes it easier for the people apart to feel included and won’t miss any important milestones during the years apart.
Status updates can help to cope with uncertainty and worry.
To cope with uncertainty people need to feel in control and well informed. By giving the nearest and dearest a possibility to follow the space mission from Earth the feeling of worry will hopefully be bearable.
