Childhood Dreams

ANNA SHAPOSHNIK, ZED FACTOR FELLOWSHIP

I brought three projects onboard: Orbi, PSSST™, and Star Broom, all centered around the concept of elevating delight in microgravity.

Star Broom came out of the first thing I pictured doing in zero-g, which was floating around on a broom. Ever since I was a kid I’ve wanted to fly. I gobbled up stories about people transforming into birds, witches on brooms, and Hermes’ winged feet. Why not make that come true!

It felt like a very personal project reflecting my artistic voice, and also one to represent every single fellow geeky artist, character designer, cosplayer, and art nerd out there. Through it, I’m unapologetically myself and hold space for celebrating magical delight. I think it’s a beautiful contrast to see something like this in a highly technical area and I hope it encourages more artists to experiment with the future of fun in microgravity. I picture a future playground of children (and adults!) on an orbital station gleefully floating around with their brooms and locomotion devices just as happily as you might see them down on Earth in a pool or squatting making sandcastles in the sand.

The project included a few practical considerations as well. The externals of the broom are all from foam, with foam covering and extending past a rigid bamboo core, with the bristles cut from foam mats. The handle is able to twist out of the bush section and separate into two pieces to pack into a carry-on-sized suitcase. While making the project, I had the doubt creep in that it was not going to be worthy among advanced technical projects. However, I was very wrong and so excited to see the diverse range of all the projects brought on the flight.

Orbi was first conceptualized in my USC Iovine & Young Designing Live Experiences class as a physical and metaverse buddy that guides visitors through my team’s Orb: Orbital Hotel Concept. Orb was created out of the question: What if space could feel homey and comfortable yet unique—what if we could elevate the experience of microgravity and Earth viewing through considered design? It is significant to me as a token of our collaboration, friendship, and vision for the future.

PSSST™ is my Personal Sustainable Spray System Technology (a bit of satire on aerospace acronym naming). PSSST™ is a locomotion device inspired by underwater scooter toys. Underwater scooters are a very close product comparison on all fronts (technology, design, business case) just as a tank of water is a close comparison for zero-g (such as in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab). I wanted an easy, fun way for particularly little kids to be able to freely fly through future space stations. In the future, I envision long zero g tunnels or zero g play parks existing as part of the human living architecture.

PSSST™ is envisioned as one of many simple products that could help make those spaces more enjoyable. I originally wanted the gas canisters to be empty bottles of spray paint or dusters that are repurposed by drilling a hole, welding on a bike-pumpable inlet and thus becoming refillable with plain air. For my prototype, I ended up using a COTS (off-the-shelf part) to easily meet the safety requirements of the Technical Readiness Review, but the concept still remains, as the cans are able to be repressurized by a small hand pump in between uses.

Besides the physical projects, I also just wanted to make the most of experiencing something few people have so that I could take that to inform future projects. The best part of the whole experience was the people I met and the range of ideas being explored. It gives me so much hope and excitement for more people to come and try this out.

Project Contributors

Anna Shaposhnik - junior studying at USC B.S in Arts, Technology, & the Business of Innovation with minor in Astronautical Engineering

Patricia Huang - (co-developer of Orbi concept) sophomore Concept Artist at Art Center College of Design

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Finding Artistic Delight in Microgravity Experimentation

See yourself in space—Aurelia Institute