Abstract
Astronauts often experience disorientation when navigating inside the multi-module space station due to the lack of gravity and the complex structure. Their sense of direction is an important indicator of the navigation performance. This research aims to identify the spatial abilities that are vital for keeping good orientation judgments during the navigation process. Sixteen male participants were recruited for the experiment. Their spatial abilities in 2D&3D perspective-taking and mental rotation, and the navigation performance in a simulated multi-module space station developed by virtual reality technique were tested respectively. Participants’ performance in the spatial ability tests was found to be significantly correlated with their navigation performance, which indicated that good spatial ability was crucial in achieving good navigation performance. This finding can be applied in the astronaut selection and custom training in the future.
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Acknowledgments
This study is funded by Foundation Scientific Research of National Defense (B1720132001) and the foundation of National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering (No. SYFD140051807).
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Guo, J., Jiang, G., Liu, Y., An, M. (2016). Predicting Navigation Performance in a Multi-module Space Station Through Spatial Abilities. In: Long, S., Dhillon, B. (eds) Man-Machine-Environment System Engineering. MMESE 2016. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 406. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2323-1_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2323-1_5
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