NASA wants you to design a smartwatch app for astronauts
A contest has been launched by NASA, who is looking for a smart watch app for astronauts to use in space. NASA will pay $1500 for the winning app, which does not have to be built, but the interface does have to be presented graphically. They are looking for an application that will be able to direct an astronaut&rsquo;s attention to the information they need to increase efficiency. The brief also specifies that the functionality needs to be designed to run on Samsung Gear 2.
Enlarge Image Ed White became the first American to "walk" in space on June 3, 1965. On his left arm is an Omega Speedmaster. NASA

For as long as there have been humans in space, there have been watches accompanying them on their wrists, with the most famous being the Omega Speedmaster worn by NASA's astronauts. Now, with the age of the smartwatch upon us, astronauts may be strapping something new to their wrists.

A space-faring smartwatch would offer more than the stopwatch and counter functions of the manual-wind Speedmaster, as classy as that is. NASA has posted a contest to Freelancer requesting a smartwatch app that could be used by astronauts in space, with a reward of $1,500 for the winning app.

"We are interested in the emerging world of smartwatch technology and are looking to leverage this technology to create a smartwatch app that could be helpful to astronauts," the NASA listing reads. "The challenge is to design the general user interface for smartwatch applications for use on the International Space Station."

Enlarge Image Examples screens of current interfaces used by astronauts, clockwise from top left: the caution display, the ground communications status and the astronaut timeline. NASA

The app would be used to display important information to astronauts.

The examples of what should be included in the app are an agenda view of the crew's Timeline, which they currently view on an iPad or laptop; colour-coded alerts and warnings; communication status, which indicates whether the ISS is currently able to communicate with Earth; and timers that will allow astronauts to time their procedures and activities.

These functions should be able to direct an astronaut's attention to the information they need to increase efficiency, provide feedback for the astronaut's actions, and fit within a small, smartwatch-sized screen.

The functions should, the brief states, be available within a single app, designed to run on the Samsung Gear 2 .

Participants don't actually have to make the app. Instead, they are tasked with designing the app's user interface, presenting the finished work in the form of image files. It's probably just as well: figuring out how astronauts are going to manage touchscreen controls while wearing bulky space gloves could be a bit more challenging.

You can check out the full brief via the NASA Challenge page on Freelancer.