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Presented at the 4th
International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety conferenceon 19-21 May, 2010 in Huntsville, USA, organized by European Space Agency.
1
HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING IN DESIGNING THE PASSENGERS’
COCKPIT OF THE MALAYSIAN COMMERCIAL SUBORBITAL
SPACEPLANE
Norul Ridzuan Zakaria(1), Adrian Mettauer(2), Jalaluddin Abu(3), Mohd Roshdi Hassan(4)
Anwar Taufeek Ismail(5), Jamaluddin Othman(6), Che Zhuhaida Shaari(7),Nasri Nasron(5)
(1) Space Future Consulting, Taiping, Malaysia, [email protected](2) Swiss Propulsion Laboratory, Langenthal, Switzerland, [email protected]
(3) Space Tourism Society, Los Angeles, USA, [email protected]
(4) University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia, [email protected]
(5) Space Tourism Society Malaysia Chapter, Shah Alam, Malaysia, [email protected](6) University Technology MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia, [email protected]
(7) Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands, [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The design of the passengers’ cabin or cockpit of commercial suborbital spaceplane is a new and exciting
frontier in human factors engineering, which emphasizes
on comfort and safety. There is a program to develop
small piloted 3 seats commercial suborbital spaceplaneby a group of Malaysians with their foreign partners, and
being relatively small and due to its design philosophy,
the spaceplane does not require a cabin, but only a
cockpit for its 2 passengers. In designing the cockpit,
human factors engineering and safety principles are given
priority. The cockpit is designed with the intention to
provide comfort and satisfaction to the passengers
without compromising the safety, in such a way that thereare passenger-view wide angled video camera to observe
the passengers at all time in flight, “rear-view”, “under-the-floor-view” and “fuselage-view” video cameras for
the passengers, personalized gauges and LCDs on thedashboard to provide vital and useful information during
the flight to the passengers, and biomedical engineered
products which not only entertain the passengers, but also
provide important information on the passengers to the
ground crews who are responsible in the comfort and
safety of the passengers.
The passenger-view video-camera, which record the
passengers with Earth visible through the glass canopy as
the background, not only provides live visual of the
passengers for safety reason, but also provide the mostpreferred memorable video collection for the passengers,
while other video cameras provide the opportunity to
view at various angles from unique positions to both the
passengers and the ground observers. The gauges and
LCDs on the dashboard provide access to the passengers
to information such as the gravity, orientation, rate of
climb and flight profile of the spaceplane, graphical
presentation of the spaceplane in flight, and live videofrom the onboard video cameras.
There is also a control stick for each passenger to activelycontrol the orientation and image magnification of the
video cameras.
The passengers themselves are considered as physicallypart of the cockpit, and therefore specifically developed
biomedical apparels worn by the passengers and provide
biomedical data of the passengers are connected to the
onboard and ground computers to provide maximum
comfort and safety to the passengers. The safety
principles and understanding that the passengers are
actually part of the cockpit becomes the basis for the
design of the cockpit.
In general, the ergonomics of the cockpit is to bepractically and psychologically provide comfort,
entertainment, safety and satisfaction to the passengers.
This paper discusses the human factors engineering and
safety principles applied in designing the ergonomic
cockpit of the Malaysian commercial suborbital
spaceplane. It describes particularly the design of the
dashboard with personalized gauges and LCDs, and
biomedical products, which not only enable thepassengers to be effectively part of the cockpit, but also
becomes stylish apparels worn by the passengers.
1. DEVELOPMENT OF SUBORBITALSPACEPLANE CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS IN
MALAYSIA
Malaysia is among the few countries in the world where
there are ongoing government astronaut program and a
non-government space tourism program. The government
astronaut program had sent an astronaut to the
International Space Station on October 2007, while thenon-government space tourism program can be traced to
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Presented at the 4th
International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety conferenceon 19-21 May, 2010 in Huntsville, USA, organized by European Space Agency.
3
with only 2 rocket engines and VTOL (vertical take-off
and landing) capability, produced by the synchronized
utilization of a lift fan and 2 vectoring nozzles of its
single jet engine.
Figure 4. Top, side and rear views of MXI suborbital
spaceplane conceptual design with lift fan and vectoring
nozzles of its jet engine and other components. The lift
fan is connected to and powered by the single jet engine.
The nozzles are directed downward to combine and
synchronize with the lift fan for VTOL.
As with MX, Swiss Propulsion Laboratory is given the
responsibility to design and develop the rocket
propulsion system for MXI, which consist of a pair of
rocket engines.
The single jet engine has 2 nozzles placed horizontallyside by side for the stability of the spaceplane during
VTOL. The nozzles will be directed downward for
VTOL, and rearward for conventional jet flight.
A lift fan at the front of the jet engine and the center of gravity of the spaceplane is coupled to the jet engine
through a shaft. During VTOL, the jet engine transfers its
power to the lift fan through this shaft.
The power produced by the jet engine is effectively
distributed using the lift fan and the nozzles, and the
output from the lift fan and the nozzles are balanced toproduce a steady lift forces. During conventional jet
flight, the lift fan is deactivated by decoupling it from the
jet engine.
This method of producing and controlling lift force forVTOL is similar to that of F-35 Lightning II fighter jet.
Figure 5. The Lift fan and vectoring nozzle of the jet
engine of F-35 Lightning II. The lift fan is connected to
and powered by the single jet engine.
The main reason the spaceplane is provided with VTOL
capability is to enable the spaceplane, which will onlycarry very limited fuel and capable of only flying for half
an hour, to operate from platforms located at exoticlocations. These locations, when viewed from an altitude
of 100km will look bright and colorful and therefore
most probably will be the preferred view of Earth to the
space tourists or passengers aboard the spaceplane (5).
Such proposed locations are coral reefs and snow capped
mountains with lakes and variety of vegetation as such
locations will look bright and colorful from space (5).
Other proposed locations are large dynamic geographicalevents such as a smoking volcano and landscapes with
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Presented at the 4th
International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety conferenceon 19-21 May, 2010 in Huntsville, USA, organized by European Space Agency.
4
very obvious and contrasting features and large popular
historic sites such as the great pyramids in Egypt (5).
Details of interesting features in views will be visible as
the spaceplane can carry high magnification and
resolution onboard cameras.
Figure 6. View of the pyramids in Cairo, Egypt from thealtitude of 100km. The details of interesting features in
view such as the pyramids in this view can be visible
using high magnification and resolution onboard
cameras.
MXI will be able to operate from a helipad aboard an
exclusive ocean liner or a platform specially built at those
exotic locations to enable its passengers to view such
features on Earth from space.
Both MX and MXI will be small suborbital spaceplanesfocusing to provide their passengers the opportunity of viewing interesting features of Earth’s surface from
space, since looking at Earth will be the most enjoyableactivity aboard a spaceflight (6).
Development and operation of VTOL suborbital
spaceplanes for space tourism similar to MXI will
significantly change the existing trend in space tourism
industry, where currently there is an emphasis in the
development and operation of spaceports with runways.
The concept of VTOL spaceplane will redefine thecharacteristics and requirements of spaceport as the
major component of space tourism industry, as new andmore economic VTOL spaceports will emerge at new
locations. The concept will create more creative space
tourism packages and more innovative and technological
designs of passenger suborbital spaceplane. It will create
new opportunities and trends in the industry.
2. DESIGNING THE PASSENGERS’ COCKPIT
OF THE MALAYSIAN COMMERCIAL
SUBORBITAL SPACEPLANE
On MXI conceptual designs, the place where the
passengers are seated is known as cockpit instead of cabin, because the concept employed is, that the
passengers of the spaceplane will be actively controlling
several functions at all time during the flight, giving them
the sense of being in control of the spaceplane and the
place where the 2 passengers are seated also looks morelike a cockpit than a cabin in respect to its size, design
and continuity with the pilot’s cockpit.
Emphasis is given to the design of the passengers’
dashboard, since the dashboard is the most visible
component in the cockpit as it is where the gauges and
LCDs are and will be used by the passengers to entertainthemselves and interact with the spaceplane and ground
control.
Furthermore, there were already efforts by other
organizations trying to develop suborbital spaceplanesthat were focusing on the seats rather than dashboards in
the interior design of their proposed spaceplanes (7).
2.1. The Human Factor Engineered Dashboard
The design of the dashboard proposed for MXI wasinspired by the design of the unique dashboard of the
Chevrolet Corvette C2 classic sports performance car.
Figure 7. The dashboard of Corvette C2.
The left and right sides of the car’s dashboard is
symmetrical if the steering wheel and gauges on the
driver’s side are removed, producing a conceptual designof a symmetrical dashboard suitable for 2 passengersseating side by side.
When an LCD and gauges are added to the left and right
side of the dashboard, it will become an effectivedashboard to accommodate 2 passengers at a time, where
each passenger will have access to vital information
regarding the spaceplane and its flight available on the
LCDs and gauges.
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Presented at the 4th
International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety conferenceon 19-21 May, 2010 in Huntsville, USA, organized by European Space Agency.
5
Figure 8. The symmetrical dashboard proposed aboard
MXI for 2 passengers sitting side by side inspired by the
dashboard of Corvette C2.
Ability of the passengers to freely access the vital
information of the spaceplane and the flight will makethem feel more comfortable and increase their level of
confidence.
The symmetrical design of the dashboard enables the
information available to the passengers to bepersonalized to each of them even though all the
information will be made available to both passengers.
This is done by having 2 sets of identical LCDs and
gauges for each passenger. The LCDs and gauges on the
dashboard provide enough visual information to both
passengers to make them feel very well informed and
aware of all current development and status of thespaceplane and flight.
Each passenger will be able to view graphical
presentation of the flight profile and orientation of thespaceplanes and also live video recording of images by
the onboard video cameras on the LCD. The images
displayed on the LCD depend on the menu chosen by the
passenger.
MXI will carry several video cameras at various parts of
its fuselage and wing to record live images during its
flight for the entertainment and safety of the passengers.
These images will be fed to the LCDs for the passengersto view them and will also be transmitted to the ground
stations for flight safety monitoring.
There will be a pair of video cameras dedicated to record
the rear view of the spaceplane. Another pair of video
cameras will record the view under the spaceplane to
provide “under-the-floor-view”. Yet a pair of video
cameras will be installed at each end of the wing directed
towards the fuselage to record the view of the fuselage of
the spaceplane with space as the background.
All these cameras will be in pairs because each passenger
will control its own cameras. Each passenger will control
the orientation and image magnification of the camerasusing a control stick similar to that used by a pilot.
These cameras will have high magnification and
resolution as they will be very important to enable the
passengers to see the details of the features in view.Visual and oral explanation of such features will also be
made available.
A wide angled video camera will be installed inside the
cockpit dedicated to record the wide-angled video of the
passengers during the flight. This live video will be made
available to the ground crews who are responsible on thecomfort and safety of the passengers, while the recorded
version will be the most preferred memorable video
collection for the passengers since the video will beclearly showing the passengers during the flight with
Earth visible through the windows as the background.
To enable the images of the passengers and Earth to be
captured, the wide-angled video camera will be installed
in front and above the passengers.
All the live videos recorded will be able to be viewedduring the flight by the passengers on the LCDs. Each
passenger will be able to view his or her video of choice
at a time.
To enhance the feeling of being in charge of the flight tothe passengers, each passenger will be using a controlstick to choose the menu on the LCD and control the
onboard cameras. The control stick will be at the side to
provide total view of the dashboard in front of each
passenger like that of F-16 fighter jet.
Figure 9. The cockpit of F-16: The control stick is on the
right-hand side of the pilot's seat.
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Presented at the 4th
International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety conferenceon 19-21 May, 2010 in Huntsville, USA, organized by European Space Agency.
7
The heart beat data will be fed to the computers which
will analyze the data and conclude the state of heart and
physical of the respective passenger. This information
will be made available to the ground crews who are
responsible to the comfort and safety of the passenger.
To avoid interference and misinterpretation of data since
the 2 passengers will be sitting closely side by side, each
passenger’s watch will only receive a unique frequency
from each respective heart beat transmitter.
Besides being a heart beat monitor, this watch also
function as a camera. The lens of the camera is installed
and directed forward in such a way that enables an
effective photo and video recording by the passenger who
wears the watch. The lens can also be pointed upward
for self image recording.
An LCD on the dial of the watch shows the live or
recorded photos and videos. During the watch mode, the
video camera is switched off and the LCD as thebackground on the dial is slightly darkened for the hands
and heartbeat counter in black economic mode to bevisible. During camera mode, the LCD will be showing
the photos and videos as the background on the dial,
while the hands and heartbeat counter will be digitally
projected in white to be clearly visible.
Figure 11. The conceptual design of the proposed heart
beat monitor watch with camera.
Digitally projected hands are preferred instead of numbers to ensure the watch is stylish and trendy.
The camera mode will be useful during the flight when
the passengers wish to make personalized photo or video
recording. The passengers can effectively made the
recording of the dashboard with their names as the
astronauts and information such as operational time,
exterior temperature, gravity, atmospheric pressure,
oxygen level, altitude and other graphical information
and live recorded images, or the view of Earth through
the window.
An advantage of using the watch as a camera is that the
watch can be worn either on the left or right wrist, so that
the passenger on the left can wear the watch on his or herleft wrist and effectively does the video and photo
recording of the views available on his or her left and
front, while the passenger on the right can wear the watch
on his or her right wrist and conveniently record the
views on his or her right and front.
The recorded videos and photos will be unique and
priceless memory of the spaceflight available to be
shown at any time on the watch to impress anybody.
Therefore, the watch will also be fashionable impressive
bio-medical apparel to be worn even on the ground. It
will remain as a souvenir to each passenger.
3.2. Other Bio-Medical Apparels
Other bio-medical apparels for the passengers proposed
to be paired with the cockpit of the spaceplane are handgloves and shoes. Both apparels will be equipped with
sensors to detect the quantity and changes in perspiration
and skin temperature. This information will provide data
to conclude the level of physical stability of the
passengers.
4. TRAINING OF THE PASSENGERS
With the philosophy that the passengers are physically
part of the cockpit, the training of the passengers
becomes a major and an important element in the designof the cockpit, because the design and the training aredirectly related to each other.
The passengers will be trained and tested until they are
familiar with the functions and operations of all the
LCDs and gauges. The training will enable them to gain
to the maximum of the functions and operations of theLCDs and gauges without facing the problem of
cognitive overload.
Simulators will be used extensively to create the closest
to real challenge and familiarization to the passengers,
where they will be familiarized with the control stick, asthey will use the control stick in many operations.
The passengers will also be trained until they become the
experts in controlling and maintaining their physical and
mental well-being, which will be monitored by the bio-medical apparels they will be wearing during the training
and flight. Such training is to ensure that the bio-medical
apparels will be very effective.
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International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety conferenceon 19-21 May, 2010 in Huntsville, USA, organized by European Space Agency.
8
The right and significant training is very important as it
will increase the comfort, safety and effectiveness of the
cockpit.
5. CONCLUSION
There is a suborbital spaceplane research program by
Malaysians with foreign partners known as M-R2D2
(Malaysian Research for Rocketplane Design and
Development) which has produced 2 conceptual designs
of suborbital spaceplane known as MX and MXI. In bothdesigns, priority is given to the view of Earth to be seen
by the passengers rather than zero-gravity to be
experienced by them. MXI is a small suborbital
spaceplane conceptual design with VTOL capability to
enable it to operate at exotic locations without runway.
Its VTOL capability is provided by a lift fan and a pair of
vectoring nozzles of its single jet engine, while its rocketpropulsion consists of a pair of rocket engines. Human
factor engineering is the most important element in
designing its cockpit. The concept employed includes acombination of familiarity, entertainment, comfort,
appreciation, bio-medical science, and safety whileemphasis is given to the design of dashboard and bio-
medical apparels. For familiarity and entertainment, a
dashboard of a well known and popular classic car is
used as the basis for designing the dashboard, which is
designed and equipped in such a way to create the sense
of being in control of the spaceplane and spaceflight tothe passengers through the application of personalized
LCDs, gauges and control stick. The sense of being
important and appreciated is further enhanced by the
application bio-medical products such as the proposed
heart beat monitor watch with camera which providescomfort, entertainment and safety to the passengers. Tofurther increase the comfort and safety of the passengers
and effectiveness of the human factors engineering in the
design of the cockpit, the passengers will be well trained
and prepared in using them.
6. REFERENCES
1. Ridzuan Zakaria, N. Zahari, R. Abd Majid, A A.
Othman, J. (May 2007). Symbiotic Relationship
between the Astronaut Program and Space Tourism
Development – A Third World Perspective, 2nd
International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety.
2. Ridzuan Zakaria, N. (February 2003). Pengenalan
Ekonomi Angkasa (Introductory Space Economics),
Institut Kajian Angkasa Malaysia (Malaysian
Institute of Space Studies), Taiping, Malaysia.3. IAASS Newsletter July 2009, p12.
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Nor, M J. Hassan, M R. Esa, M. Malakan, R.
Norulhuda, N. & Jalaluddin, M N. (February 2008).
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Promote Interest of Space Travel in Developing
Countries, 12th
International Space University
Annual Sympossium.
5. Aini, N (July 2009). Learning Space Tourism and
Suborbital Spaceplane on a Trip to the Alps, SpaceTourism Society Malaysia Chapter. p7.
6. Ashford, D (August 2009). An Aviation Approach to
Space Transportation, The Aeronautical Journal,
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7. http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/archive/SpecialTopics/Events/2010/Resources/WorldNewSpace-
SA-10.pdf ,p11.
8. Aragon, C.R. (2005), Improving Aviation Safety with
Information Visualization: A Flight Simulation
Study, CHI 2005: ACM Conference on Human
Factors in Computer Systems.
7. SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. Ridzuan Zakaria, N. Zahari, R. Abd Majid, A A.Othman, J. (February 2003). Pengenalan Ekonomi
Angkasa (Introductory Space Economics), InstitutKajian Angkasa Malaysia (Malaysian Institute of
Space Studies), Taiping, Malaysia. (Figure 1).
2. Space Tourism Society Malaysia Chapter (Figure 2,
3,4,8,10,11).
3. www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?89
961-Indian-Armed-Forces/page221. (Figure 5).4. Ancient Egypt and Mediterranean Society, Taiping,
Malaysia (Figure 6).
5. http://www.web-cars.com/corvette/1963-5.php
(Figure 7).
6. http://www.militaryparitet.com/html/data/ic_news/162 (Figure 9).