Mission & Origin

CLAWS was formed by students passionate about advancing space exploration technologies. The founder was a computer scientist looking to bring innovative software solutions for crewed space missions. Unable to find an existing group on campus that aimed to accomplish this, they created their own.

The first project CLAWS took on was the NASA SUITS 2019 Challenge. This software design competition centered around using augmented reality to assist astronauts with their tasks on the ISS. The initial team wrote a proposal in October 2018 and was excited to be accepted in December 2018. The next four months involved team member recruitment, project development, funding acquisition, and travel planning.

CLAWS travelled to NASA JSC in Houston, TX to present their AR system, which would be later known as MEISSA: Modernizing EVAs for ISS Astronauts. During this week-long trip, the team had the opportunity to work and test with NASA flight controllers and EVA specialist. These experiences were extremely important to CLAWS and the team would draw upon their lessons learned in the future. CLAWS also made important connections at JSC, and those relationships would be vital to the team's future.

Four years later and CLAWS has grown to what it is today. With our team continuing to improve and innovate new ways of utilizing the Hololens 2, we had the opportunity to be once again accepted for the NASA SUITS 2023 Challenge. With our new AR system, VEGA, we are paving the way for future space exploration, and we cannot wait for what the future has in store for us.