These Futuristic Boots Will Prevent Astronauts From Tripping on Mars

There's a lot of research going on right now

to understand how we can keep crew healthy and safe

on the way to Mars during mission operations.

We designed vibrotactile boots that would help signify

proximity to an obstacle by using vibrations

on the front of the boot.

The boot essentially consists of two 3D-printed bases.

The ultrasonic rangefinder's there to detect things

at larger distances, while the infrared sensor

was there to detect things at closer distances.

That's kinda the most obvious cue.

It's a really high steady vibration on the boots.

Being in a big bulky pressurized spacesuit

restricts astronauts' mobility.

The helmet tends to cut off the peripheral vision

of the lower limbs, and so it's kind of required

to lean forward and look down to even see your feet.

In the Apollo missions a lot of astronauts

actually tripped a lot in their spacesuits,

and fell onto the soft moondust.

[Man] Jack Schmitt having a few problems.

There's twice as much gravity on Mars,

and there's not soft moondust; there are hard rocks.

It's really important that they don't have

to worry about tripping and falling

and puncturing their life-support equipment.

They have a limited supply of their life support

for when they're doing their extravehicular activities.

So that means you don't wanna have the astronaut

fumbling around, trying to figure out how to work something.

They need to be able to do it efficiently.

So how do we present information to them

that they can use to avoid obstacles?

There definitely are applications for people here on Earth,

including firefighters who enter smoke-filled rooms,

and they're not sure what's on the floor.

There could be debris; there could be people.

Also, individuals with limited vision or visual deficits

could benefit from this technology.

I don't think most people think of the human aspect

of spaceflight and aerospace engineering so much

as they do about the vehicle technologies

and the more conventional fields.

To be able to provide technologies that can assist

the astronauts and actually make a group of people

have more capability, that's, I think, really exciting.