Back on Earth, our smartwatches collect biometrics about ourselves, like our heart rate, how far we’ve run, how many steps we’ve taken, calories burned, and so on. It can even display notifications from our smartphone and alert us about upcoming meetings, phone calls, messages, and more.
However in space, would an Earth smartwatch be just as useful? Maybe not, which is why NASA has recently launched a contest on Freelancer. The agency is tasking the public to put forward their best designs for a smartwatch app that might be worn by an astronaut, which we suppose would have different features than a regular smartwatch due to the different needs.
According to NASA, “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 challenge is to design the general user interface for smart watch applications for use on the International Space Station.”
That being said we are curious as to what kind of features a smartwatch app for an astronaut could pack. Perhaps it can display oxygen levels, communicate with their loved ones back on Earth via their wrist, and more? Either way if you have an idea of what a good astronaut smartwatch app will be like, head on over to Freelancer for the details where the winner will earn themselves $1,500.
Filed in . Read more about Apps, NASA, Smartwatch, Space and Wearable Tech.