Boston Design Academy Students Shoot For The Stars

Alicia McKenna, Eki Teixeira and Andres Mendez Perez work on designing consumer product prototypes for astronauts going on NASA's 2030 mission to Mars.

Emily Schario is a producer in the WGBH Studio at the Boston Public Library, where she produces radio and digital broadcasts about the Boston community and beyond. Before joining WGBH, Emily was the news editor for her college newspaper and interned at WBUR’s On Point Radio. She has a degree in mediated communication and English literature from Stonehill College.

August 21, 2019

Updated July 03, 2023

Some students spend their summer at the beach. Some spend it at camp. But at the Boston Design Academy, students spent their summer designing a shower for astronauts.

For the past six weeks, 24 Boston Public School students have been designing products that will make life in space easier for astronauts going on NASA’s 2030 mission to Mars. These students are part of the Boston Design Academy (BDA), a city-sponsored career pathways program that gives BPS students hands-on experience in the design industry.

BDA students have learned that space travel is not as glamorous as it may seem, as many astronauts struggle with necessities like sleep, personal hygiene and opening food packages.

After learning how difficult it is for astronauts to do something as simple as showering, 15-year-old Kamari McGlaughlin said he and his peers wanted to fix that.

“They just had like a little pouch of water and soap and they had to rub it on their skin. You’re really not cleaning yourself,” said McGlaughlin.

Using 3-D printers, laser cutters and Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) software, McGlaughlin and his team designed four small beads that can clean astronauts while they wear their space suit. The beads would be worn like a necklace, and once the space suit is put on, the beads would engage. Each bead has a different job of rinsing, soaping and drying the astronaut’s body, all in the privacy of an astronaut’s space suit.

While McGlaughlin and his team designed a space-friendly shower, some students created utility knives equipped with lasers to make it easier for astronauts to cut open food packages. Others designed virtual reality headsets that produce calming sounds and imagery to help astronauts struggling with insomnia.

This program has given BPS students the opportunity to work with technology that is unavailable in a traditional classroom. However, Dextina Booker, curriculum lead for the Boston Design Academy, thinks BDA has given these students much more than just learning how to 3-D print.

“I think it's probably one of the few times that they’re asked their opinion, that they’re asked to criticize things, that they’re asked to continue to explore their curiosity,” said Booker.

As a woman of color in the STEM field, Booker said facilitating this program is personal for her. She sees herself in many of the BDA students.

“Part of this whole experience has been just remembering what it was like to kind of explore and to be able to think that my contribution to science and the world matters,” said Booker.

BDA’s program is partially funded by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and last week, students had the chance to present their prototypes to NASA funders via Facebook Live. At the end of their presentation, they were surprised with a trip to NASA in October where they will have the chance to present their projects to NASA funders in person.