Melissa Scott-Pandorf
Doctoral Student, Health and Human Performance

“NASA’s mission to send humans back to the moon is closer to a reality every day,” says Melissa Scott-Pandorf, a doctoral student in the UH Department of Health and Human Performance and fellow of the Texas Space Grant Consortium who will receive a $15,000 research grant. “Astronauts will have to be able to travel easily over the planet’s terrain, meaning their mobility will be important for overall mission success.”

Scott-Pandorf has observed hours of lunar moon-walk video to determine how fast and far astronauts traveled in their gear, as well as reviewed metabolic indicators to calculate the amount of energy expelled while walking on the moon. She says this will help NASA officials decide how much to include on an astronaut’s space suit.

“I can’t tell you how many times I watched the astronauts fall down on the lunar videos,” she jokes. “It isn’t meant to be funny. It’s difficult for them to get up with the survival pack on their back and those bulky suits. We’re hoping our new research projects will lead to a streamlined space suit that makes it easier to navigate the terrain.”

As part of her new work, Scott-Pandorf uses a weight suspension system located in the UH Laboratory of Integrated Physiology, where a subject is buckled into the suspension system and simply walks as she records data and investigates how mass distribution on the space suit may influence the ease in which astronauts travel a planet’s terrain.

“In addition, the space suspension system we are using is similar to what has been used as therapy tools for persons with spinal cord injuries or the elderly, so conceivably using the system for our research could usher in new ideas for new therapies for those populations.”