ABSTRACT

As a great outcome of our advanced technology, we built a spacecraft called the International Space Station (ISS) that orbits the Earth within the thermosphere and where we situated a bunch of astronauts to do scientific research for a designated period of time. For the last 20 years, ISS has been running by different astronauts who had to live in a new environment which is completely different than where they used to live before. Since they live up there for at least 6 months, one way or another they start missing any earth-like experience such as being in nature, wind, sound of rain etc. during that time they spent in that confined environment which literally makes everything even harder for them. This thesis explores some potential solutions to deal with this issue for astronauts aboard the ISS, as well as for those who will be gone for Mars one day, by exploring the ways of simulating the elements of nature and everyday activities in the zero-g environment in a way utilizing virtual reality technology (VR) and physical objects that will be working together.