The Evolvable Mars Campaign - study status

Craig, Douglas A.; Herrmann, Nicole; Troutman, Patrick A.

doi:10.1109/aero.2015.7118925

Cited by 42 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…The NEEMO missions discussed in this paper simulate the Mars system, which aligns with NASA's Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC). [1] [2] [3] The paper will address the communication latency-related research conducted during 3 NEEMO missions; NEEMO 18 (July 2014, 9 days), NEEMO 19 (September 2014, 7 days), and NEEMO 20 (July 2015, 14 days). Each mission had 4person aquanaut crews consisting of NASA and international (ie, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, European Space Agency) astronauts and EVA engineers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

NEEMO 18–20: Analog testing for mitigation of communication latency during human space exploration

Chappell

Graff

Beaton

et al. 2016

2016 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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NASA Extreme Environment Mission O perations (NEEMO) is an underwater spaceflight analog that allows a true mission-like operational environment and uses buoyancy effects and added weight to simulate different gravity levels. Three missions were undertaken from 2014-2015, NEEMO 18-20. All missions were performed at the Florida International University's Aquarius Reef Base, an undersea research habitat. During each mission, the effects of communication latencies on operations concepts, timelines, and tasks were studied. METHO DS: Twe lve subje cts (4 pe r mission) we re we ighed out to simulate near-zero or partial gravity extravehicular activity (EVA) and evaluated different operations concepts for inte gration and management of a simulated Earth-based science te am (ST) to provide input and dire ction during e xploration activities. Exploration traverses were preplanned based on precursor data. Subjects completed science-related tasks including presampling surveys, geologic-based sampling, and marine-based sampling as a portion of their tasks on saturation dives up to 4 hours in duration that were designed to simulate EVA on Mars or the moons of Mars. One-way communication latencies, 5 and 10 minutes between space and mission control, were simulated throughout the missions. O bjective data included task completion times, total EVA times, crew idle time, translation time, ST assimilation time (defined as time available for ST to discuss data/imagery after data acquisition). Subjective data included acceptability, simulatio n quality, capability assessment ratings, and comments. RESULTS : Precursor data can be used effectively to plan and execute e xploration trave rse EVAs (plans included de tailed location of science sites, high-fidelity imagery of the sites, and directions to landmarks of interest within a site). O perations concepts that allow for presampling surveys enable efficient traverse execution and meaningful Mission Control Center (MCC) inte raction across communication late ncies and can be done with minimal crew idle time. Imagery and contextual information from the EVA crew that is transmitted real-time to the intravehicular activity (IVA) crewmember(s) can be used to verify that exploration traverse plans are being executed correctly. That same data can be effectively used by MCC (across comm latency) to provide meaningful feedback and instruction to the crew regarding sampling priorities, additional tasks, and changes to the EVA timeline. Text / data capabilities are preferred over voice capabilities between MCC and IVA when executing exploration traverse plans over communication latency.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

NEEMO 18–20: Analog testing for mitigation of communication latency during human space exploration

Chappell

Graff

Beaton

et al. 2016

2016 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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“…ASA is developing a "long-term strategy for achieving extended missions to Mars" with a goal of reaching the Mars vicinity with crew in the mid-2030s 1 . The Evolvable Mars Campaign 1,2 (EMC) is an ongoing study investigating potential options for exploration missions to achieve this goal sustainably and affordably.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolvable Mars Campaign Long Duration Habitation Strategies: Architectural Approaches to Enable Human Exploration Missions

Simon

Toups

Howe

et al. 2015

AIAA SPACE 2015 Conference and Exposition

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The Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) is the current NASA Mars mission planning effort which seeks to establish sustainable, realistic strategies to enable crewed Mars missions in the mid-2030s timeframe. The primary outcome of the Evolvable Mars Campaign is not to produce "The Plan" for sending humans to Mars, but instead its intent is to inform the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate near-term key decisions and investment priorities to prepare for those types of missions. The FY'15 EMC effort focused upon analysis of integrated mission architectures to identify technically appealing transportation strategies, logistics build-up strategies, and vehicle designs for reaching and exploring Mars moons and Mars surface. As part of the development of this campaign, long duration habitats are required which are capable of supporting crew with limited resupply and crew abort during the Mars transit, Mars moons, and Mars surface segments of EMC missions. In particular, the EMC design team sought to design a single, affordable habitation system whose manufactured units could be outfitted uniquely for each of these missions and reused for multiple crewed missions. This habitat system must provide all of the functionality to safely support 4 crew for long durations while meeting mass and volume constraints for each of the mission segments set by the chosen transportation architecture and propulsion technologies. This paper describes several proposed long-duration habitation strategies to enable the Evolvable Mars Campaign through improvements in mass, cost, and reusability, and presents results of analysis to compare the options and identify promising solutions. The concepts investigated include several monolithic concepts: monolithic clean sheet designs, and concepts which leverage the co-manifested payload capability of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) to deliver habitable elements within the Universal Payload Adaptor between the SLS upper stage and the Orion/Service module on the top of the vehicle. Multiple modular habitat options for Mars surface and in-space missions are also considered with various functionality and volume splits between modules to find the best balance of reducing the single largest mass which must be delivered to a destination and reducing the number of separate elements which must be launched. Analysis results presented for each of these concepts in this paper include mass/volume/power sizing using parametric sizing tools, identification of unique operational constraints, and limited comments on the additional impacts of reusability/dormancy on system design. Finally, recommendations will be made for promising solutions which will be carried forward for consideration in the Evolvable Mars Campaign work.

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“…As an example, destinations such as the Mars surface would introduce communication latencies with Earth from 4-22 minutes in each direction, depending on planetary alignments. The NEEMO mission discussed in this paper simulated concepts for human exploration of Mars systems aligned with NASA's Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) [1][2][3][4]. NEEMO 21 also evaluated science operations that informed the development of NASA's exploration EVA operations concepts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integration of an Earth-based science team during human exploration of Mars

Chappell

Beaton

Newton

et al. 2017

2017 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) is an underwater spaceflight analog that allows a true mission-like operational environment and uses buoyancy effects and added weight to simulate different gravity levels. A mission was undertaken in 2016, NEEMO 21, at the Aquarius undersea research habitat. During the mission, the effects of varied operations concepts with representative communication latencies associated with Mars missions were studied. Six subjects were weighed out to simulate partial gravity and evaluated different operations concepts for integration and management of a simulated Earth-based science team (ST) who provided input and direction during exploration activities. Exploration traverses were planned in advance based on precursor data collected. Subjects completed science-related tasks including presampling surveys and marine-science-based sampling during saturation dives up to 4 hours in duration that simulated extravehicular activity (EVA) on Mars. A communication latency of 15 minutes in each direction between space and ground was simulated throughout the EVAs. Objective data included task completion times, total EVA time, crew idle time, translation time, ST assimilation time (defined as time available for the science team to discuss, to review and act upon data/imagery after they have been collected and transmitted to the ground). Subjective data included acceptability, simulation quality, capability assessment ratings, and comments. In addition, comments from both the crew and the ST were captured during the post-mission debrief. Here, we focus on the acceptability of the operations concepts studied and the capabilities most enhancing or enabling in the operations concept. The importance and challenges of designing EVA timelines to account for the length of the task, level of interaction with the ground that is required/desired, and communication latency, are discussed.

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The Evolvable Mars Campaign - study status

Cited by 42 publications

References 0 publications

NEEMO 18–20: Analog testing for mitigation of communication latency during human space exploration

NEEMO 18–20: Analog testing for mitigation of communication latency during human space exploration

Evolvable Mars Campaign Long Duration Habitation Strategies: Architectural Approaches to Enable Human Exploration Missions

Integration of an Earth-based science team during human exploration of Mars

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