The Moon Vehicle was a summer project that was chosen for the Microsoft Design Expo 2008 as part of their Faculty Summit. Our team represented the university and presented this project at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA.
The brief was to create an interactive interface that could be used in the educational domain. Our project was an
attempt to enrich the quality of science education in India. It was also a cultural response to the launch of satellite Chandrayaan I which was India’s first purely science oriented mission. We created a way to connect students between the age of 11 and 15 to the scientists at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and other interested citizens to get them interested in and start a dialogue around space science.
Children envisioning and painting the future on the moon during a workshop that we conducted during research.
They discussed the moon, future on the moon, satellites and brought up issues around the ethics of space colonisation
This was done by prototyping an interactive satellite that the students record questions/messages into and these would be transmitted to other centers where they would be answered by a scientist/other resource people. The
system was designed such that this would become a fun activity, almost like a treasure hunt that the children would play in their respective schools. These children spend hours pouring over their science textbooks yet know nothing about the massive advances in space exploration which will probably impact their own futures and our project was an attempt at changing that.
Left: The 'Bombat-Sat' prototype
Right: One of the children recording a message for her friend while testing the Bombat-Sat
Coming up with this solution involved a lot of research, brainstorming, setting up workshops with our target audience and testing it with the same user group.
Left-Top: A student building her own satellite during a workshop where we introduced satellites and e-waste to them
Left-Bottom: Tarun's finished satellite
Right: A poster made by Tarun on his satellite and what he liked about 'Bombat Sat'
Led by professor Gabriel Harp, and in collaboration with Sumona Chakravarty, Nandini Chandavarkar, Govind Mohandas and Babita Beliappa through Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, 2008
