Year
2025
TYPE
PHYSICAL + DIGITAL
Category
SPECULATIVE DESIGN
Project Duration
1.6 years
This thesis project is grounded in the most rigorous research, employing a diverse range of methodologies including systemic analysis, expert interviews, workshops, qualitative and quantitative studies, psychographic profiling, and extensive user testing (150+ experts and stakeholders). By engaging with hundreds of participants and dissecting complex global systems, the research reveals the deep-rooted sociopolitical, psychological, and systemic dimensions of space debris.
The pivotal realization that shaped this project was this: personal safety is the threshold at which distant, systemic issues like space debris begin to feel real. This was not a speculative assumption, but a conclusion drawn from layered, interdisciplinary research. Today, uncontrolled reentries of defunct satellites and rocket parts are steadily rising, with documented incidents already occurring across the globe. Yet public awareness remains almost nonexistent. This gap between expert knowledge and public consciousness became the central challenge.
After exploring 17 distinct concepts and crafting over 50+ prototypes to test variations in form, aesthetics, and hardware feasibility, Sphera was born. The development process was as iterative as it was experimental, balancing speculative storytelling with physical believability. The biggest challenge was simulating a convincing holographic interface without access to actual holographic technology. To bridge this gap, a custom-coded solution paired with a holographic fan emulator was developed, creating an illusion real enough to suspend disbelief and anchor the speculative concept in tangible experience.
What if in a near future where space debris rains down so frequently, we cannot step out without a 3D debris visualization device? Use Sphera. A personal spatial awareness device that visualizes falling orbital debris in real-time to keep you safe. What we once looked up to, we now fear. In this future, disaster is just data and delay is death.
