Abstract
Future deep space missions will present new physical and cognitive challenges that could increase risks to astronaut performance. In addition, crews may no longer be able to depend on timely support from NASA Mission Control Center (MCC) due to distance from the Earth. Astronauts will have to work autonomously using onboard resources, while still maintaining high performance. It is critical to understand the type of support MCC currently provides in order to replicate that type of support onboard. A Contextual Inquiry was performed to characterize the support that MCC currently offers to space crews. An expert Focus Group was convened to understand the types of tasks astronauts will do on a future Mars mission, as well as the challenges associated with those tasks. Results from these activities elucidate the types of intelligent tools and capabilities that will be needed for autonomous crews on future deep space missions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Holden, K., Russi-Vigoya, M.N., Adelstein, B., Munson, B.: Human Capabilities Assessment for Autonomous Missions (HCAAM). Phase I: Human Performance Standards and Guidelines. In: Internal NASA Report prepared for the Human Factors and Behavioral Performance Element of the Human Research Program (2019)
Muhr, T.: ATLAS/ti—a prototype for the support of text interpretation. Qual. Sociol. 14(4), 349–371 (1991)
Fink, A., Kosecoff, J., Chassin, M., Brook, R.H.: Consensus methods: characteristics and guidelines for use. Am. J. Public Health 74(9), 979–983 (1984). https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.74.9.979
Wu, S.C., Vera, A.H.: Supporting crew autonomy in deep space exploration: preliminary onboard capability requirements and proposed research questions. (Report No.: NASA/TM—2019–22034) (2019). https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20190032086.pdf
Whiteside, J., Bennett, J., Holtzblatt, H.: Usability engineering: our experience and evaluation. In: Helander, M. (ed.) Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction, pp. 791–817. Elsevier Science Publishing, New York (1988)
Vera, A., Holden, K., Dempsey, D., Russi-Vigoya, M., Wu, S., Beutter, B.: Contextual inquiries and interviews to support crew autonomous operations in future deep space missions: preliminary requirements and proposed future research. In: Internal NASA Report prepared for the Human Factors and Behavioral Performance Element of the Human Research Program (2019)
Martin, L., O’Keefe, W., Schmidt, L., Barshi, I., Mauro, R.: Houston, we have a problem-solving model for training. J. Organ. Psychol. 12(1), 57–68 (2012)
Holden, K., Munson, B., Russi-Vigoya, M. N., Dempsey, D., Adelstein, B.: Human Capabilities Assessment for Autonomous Missions (HCAAM). Phase II: Development and Validation of an Autonomous Operations Task List. In: Internal NASA Report prepared for the Human Factors and Behavioral Performance Element of the Human Research Program (2020)
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the NASA Human Research Program (contract number NNJ15HK11B), and the study was performed at the NASA Johnson Space Center. The authors would like to thank E. Vincent Cross II and Brent Beutter for their technical contributions. The authors would also like to thank the NASA Flight Operations Directorate (FOD) for their assistance in conducting the Contextual Inquiry, and all of the participants of the Contextual Inquiry and Expert Focus Group.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Russi-Vigoya, M.N. et al. (2020). Supporting Astronaut Autonomous Operations in Future Deep Space Missions. In: Stanton, N. (eds) Advances in Human Aspects of Transportation. AHFE 2020. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1212. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50943-9_63
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50943-9_63
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-50942-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-50943-9
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)