Earth in space: Earth Memory is launched to bring a sense of home to long-duration missions

A pair of glasses powered independently and integrated directly into the astronaut’s suit, to bring one’s home and the cherished places left behind on Earth into space. This is the idea behind Earth Memory, the digital platform developed by the Polytechnic University of the Marche – presented, alongside eight other projects, at the Space Economy Fair in Rimini – designed to support the physical and mental wellbeing of astronauts on long-duration missions; its ‘debut’, as decided by the Italian Space Agency, will be on board the Axiom 5 mission

An ET from the third millennium who can get in touch with ‘home’ thanks to an innovative project that combines immersive reality, artificial intelligence and digital heritage to recreate, in space, the places, faces, sounds and rituals that make Earth feel like home. The first prototype was developed by the Polytechnic University of the Marche in collaboration with astronaut Walter Villadei. Villadei – a space veteran with many missions under his belt – helped define the system’s content and functionality. The first demonstrator was built with his input. “Going into space is an incredibly powerful experience, but astronauts also need to take something from Earth with them: memories, images, sensations,” said Walter Villadei – “Earth Memory is an experiment, an innovative technology that brings together science, art and knowledge: an absolutely vital project that I hope to take into space soon.”

Earth Memory was created to address one of the most critical challenges identified by NASA: isolation, confinement, distance from Earth and life in enclosed or hostile environments are among the five main risks of human spaceflight. With future lunar and Martian missions, communications will become asynchronous due to latency, making support for the crew’s mental wellbeing and cohesion even more crucial.

“Earth Memory is a concrete example of how university research – explains the Vice-Chancellor of the Polytechnic University of the Marche , Enrico Quagliarini – is capable of engaging with the aerospace sector. The project consolidates our university’s international standing in the field of high-quality research, capable of combining technological and scientific expertise to address global challenges. We are breaking new ground in an area where our region’s manufacturing sector can make a real difference. It is no coincidence – he adds – that two of the projects we have at Bex have already been selected by the Italian Space Agency as potential ‘payloads’ for the Axiom-5 mission.”

At the expo-conference, the Marche Polytechnic University presented a further eight research projects to be carried out in space: ranging from sensors for monitoring astronauts’ physiological parameters, to the cultivation of nutraceutical micro-vegetables, and an innovative headset capable of improving astronauts’ psychological wellbeing.