2020 Serenity-MARS SUITE,
BKDS in cooperation with the
Austrian Space Forum
Austrian Space Forum
As of today the cooperation between ÖWF and BKDS [Bernhard Kaliauer Design Studio] is official and the first pictures have been published. This project will last until the middle of 2019 and one thing should be anticipated, we can still look forward to a lot until then and in the future.
Industrial design for functionality and efficiency
The complete redevelopment of the Mars suit prototype also posed numerous challenges in terms of the arrangement and design of components and the efficient use of the space available in the Mars suit. DI Bernhard Kaliauer, Industrial Designer for Serenity: "We work in close interaction with the individual technical departments of the ÖWF on the Mars suit prototypes. Tasks such as function, operation, semantics, arrangement of the components, integration of electronic components, freedom from maintenance as well as enabling minor repairs by the astronauts themselves are topics that are important here. On the other hand, the suit should also be as light as possible, because after all, the analog astronaut must be able to move with the Mars suit prototype. All these tasks were incorporated into the design. As an industrial designer, I also had the task of designing the suit and its user interfaces in such a way that they were self-explanatory and easy to use. A simple example: Mechanisms such as knobs with which something is to be opened or fixed must clearly signal how they are to be used through their appearance. If something is to be rotated, it must be clear to the user so that they do not try to pull on it and in the worst case destroy something. A task that seems obvious, but could become a problem if not done properly."
Further information and a detailed report can be found here in the article by
DerStandard:
https://www.derstandard.de/story/2000088134353/weltraumforum-praesentiert-raumanzug-mit-rueckeinstieg
and directly on the ÖWF Side
https://oewf.org/en/amadee-program/spacesuit-simulator/
