Earthgazing VR experience to help astronauts cope with loneliness

Research aimed at helping astronauts deal with isolation and confinement could also have an impact on those back on Earth suffering from COVID-related loneliness. Researchers in Simon Fraser University's iSpace Lab have created a virtual reality experience-called Earthgazing-which will be tested as part of SIRIUS 2021 , a study launching Nov. 4 in Moscow. The SFU experiment is one of 70 to be undertaken as a 'crew' of six people spend the next eight months in a facility modeling a spacecraft heading to Mars. The virtual Earthgazing experience draws on phenomena that elicit feeling of awe and connection, taking viewers on a meditative journey that invites them to "reflect on their connection to Earth and humanity" through meditation and inspirational views of nature and space. The SFU lab is collaborating with researchers in Germany to investigate how virtual reality (VR) impacts the effects of isolation on crew members and their ability to cope amid isolation and sensory deprivation. It further uses VR technology as a means of supporting mental wellbeing of the crew and countering space travel's potentially negative psychological effects.