(Jan 31, 2012)

Gizmodo.com recently posted an article, "How NASA Solved a $100 Million Problem for Five Bucks", which describes their Dec. 15 2011 visit to the Human Vibration Laboratory at the NASA Ames Research Center. The article features a discussion of a countermeasure developed by the lab, that mitigates the impact of vibration on human visual performance by strobing a display panel in synchrony with the vibration. During the visit, Drs. Brent Beutter and Bernard Adelstein also discussed the lab's research on the effects of vibration on human performance and the potential impacts of vibration on crew performance during space launch. This work was carried out in collaboration with colleagues at NASA's Johnson Space Center. The highlight of the visit was a demonstration of the impacts of vibration on vision, and the effectiveness of the strobing countermeasure. A study of the efficacy of the countermeasure was presented as a poster at the 18th Humans In Space Symposium in Houston (April 11-15, 2011). A patent application on the strobing technology was filed by NASA in September 2011. This work was funded by the Space Human Factors Element of the Human Research Program.