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Assessments of Physiology and Cognition in Hybrid-Reality Environments (APACHE)

NASA is planning to return to the Moon in the mid-2020s as a stepping stone to Mars missions in the 2030s. Spacewalks, or extravehicular activities (EVAs), performed on the Moon and Mars will differ in a variety of ways from those that have been performed in decades past. NASA has identified multiple risks to human health and performance associated with a crewed mission to Mars, especially those associated with exploration EVAs which are expected to be a primary mission activity. Crew may be expected to conduct up to 24 hours of EVA per person per week, where the likelihood of injury and/or mental mistakes are increased compared to ground-based training or current microgravity EVAs and the consequences of which can be catastrophic. Current test environments for exploration EVA research and technology development are large, costly facilities that are limited in their availability or capabilities. Spacesuit testing in a reduced gravity environment such as NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, while a good representation of the crew’s physical workload during exploration EVAs, typically has small datasets and is difficult to integrate physiological sensors or other types of crew performance measures. Meanwhile, scientific field-based testing such as NASA’s Desert Research and Technology Studies offers an operationally relevant environment for exploration EVAs, particularly for cognitive workload, but is also limited by small datasets, lack of a pressurized spacesuit, and obtrusive measures. The limitations of current analogs for exploration EVAs identify a need for a new test environment that can approximate both the physical and cognitive demands associated with exploration EVAs to enable rapid, controlled, and repeatable evaluations of human health and performance risks of exploration missions. In response, the Human Physiology, Performance, Protection, and Operations Laboratory (H-3PO) at NASA Johnson Space Center has developed a hybrid reality exploration EVA analog named the Assessments of Physiology And Cognition in Hybrid-reality Environments (APACHE) to address these limitations using a combination of virtual, physical, and hybrid reality techniques. The APACHE facility resides at NASA Johnson Space Center and serves as a large “sandbox” for EVA research and simulation. At its center is a roughly 15x20ft space surrounded by a 14” tall sandbox partially filled with lunar regolith simulant to emulate the physical feeling of walking on a planetary surface and to allow for simulated geology operations. Nearby, a curved passive treadmill (Skillmill Connect, Technogym, Fairfield, NJ) and an omnidirectional treadmill (Infinadeck, Infinadeck, Rocklin, CA) are included to enable exploration of these large virtual environments while also imposing the physical demands, representative timelines, and cognitive burdens required to navigate and traverse these distances during exploration EVA. A 6DOF motion platform is used to simulate rover operations and supports various human performance evaluations and associated risks. Lastly, APACHE can support two extravehicular (EV) crewmembers working in tandem. A computer workstation is located nearby and also supports an intravehicular (IV) crewmember as part of a full mission simulation. The IV crewmember has direct video and audio communication with the EV crew in VR to provide operational and procedural support. The software used in APACHE was created by the JSC Engineering Directorate, in partnership with Buendea, powered by a custom Unreal Engine 5 (UE5.3, Epic Games) project. APACHE currently utilizes the HTC Vive Pro Eye in a wireless configuration for VR simulations. There are two virtual environments that subjects can explore within APACHE, a Lunar and Martian surface. The virtual Lunar surface was created from LIDAR data of the Lunar South Pole to create roughly 16 sq km of explorable terrain. The virtual Martian surface contains roughly 400 sq km of explorable terrain derived from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter LIDAR data of the Jezero Crater. The immersion and related cognitive burdens of conducting a planetary EVA is simulated through a series of EVA-relevant tasks performed in the VR environment, using these high-fidelity visual representations. Additionally, APACHE includes biosensor driven informatics, such as real-time heart rate monitoring and/or derived values from model simulations, for active monitoring by the EV crew and added cognitive demand. A “Wizard of Oz” control panel enables test operators to activate contingency events such as simulated spacesuit malfunctions, loss of communications, and/or limited visibility. Embedded performance measures such as accuracy, completeness, and execution time have been developed for various exploration tasks to objectively quantify crew performance during an EVA and compare impacts to performance when different environmental stressors, both physical and cognitive, are added to or removed from the simulation. Additionally, validated cognitive and operational performance measures such as the Digit Symbol Substitution Task have been recreated and embedded in VR for direct and relatively unobtrusive measurement of motor perception. The APACHE environment currently supports multiple research studies at NASA. Examples include the CHAPEA project, a series of simulated year-long missions on Mars by a 4-person crew; and the CO2 Contingency Walk Back Study, an investigation of elevated CO2 exposure on crew performance during a contingency EVA scenario. APACHE also provides a test environment to support the development of the Crew State and Risk Model, which is a collection of individualized, mathematical models of crew physical and cognitive state; and the Personalized EVA Informatics and Decision Support system, an operational tool for flight controllers, and eventually a self-reliant Martian crew, to make biomedically-informed decisions in real-time to optimize the EVA planning and execution with respect to crew health and performance. Some technical challenges associated with developing the APACHE environment, as well as current limitations, include VR limitless natural walking with a hybrid spacesuit simulator, optimizing performance for wireless PC VR streaming while maintaining a high degree of visual fidelity, and the integration of various physiological (metabolic masks) and psychometric (eye tracking) sensors with the VR headset.

Human Performance↗

Further study of terrain effects on the mesoscale spectrum of atmospheric motions

Wind and temperature data collected on commercial airliners are used to investigate the effects of underlying terrain on mesoscale variability. These results expand upon those of Nastrom et al., by including all available data from the Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) and by more closely focusing on the coupling of variance with the roughness of the underlying terrain over mountainous regions. The earlier results, showing that variances are larger over mountains than over oceans or plains, with greatest increases at wavelengths below about 80 km, are confirmed. Statistical tests are used to confirm that these differences are highly significant. Over mountainous regions the roughness of the underlying terrain was parameterized from topographic data and it was found that variances are highly correlated with roughness and, in the troposphere, with background windspeed. Average variances over the roughest terrain areas range up to about ten times larger than those over the oceans. These results are found to follow the scaling with stability predicted in the framework of linenar gravity wave theory. The implications of these results for vertical transports of momentum and energy, assuming they are due to gravity waves and considering the effects of intermittency and anisotroy, are also discussed.

Jasperson, W. H.↗

Simulation of spaceborne stereo radar imagery - Experimental results

Computer simulation of radar imagery was used to investigate spaceborne stereo radar. The major conclusions reached are that stereo pairs representing different angles of incidence with the same look-direction appear best and that the angles of incidence and stereo intersection angle be matched to the slope and relief of terrain. A parametric tradeoff analysis was performed for eleven different angles of incidence over three different model areas. The eleven angles spanned the range from small- to large-incidence angles. The three model areas were selected as typical of relatively flat, moderately rough, and mountainous terrain. The stereo pair judged best for each model area are included.

Kaupp, V. H.↗

A New View of the Lunar South Pole from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA)

Upcoming missions to the lunar south pole require detailed maps over large areas to fully characterize landing sites locally and regionally and to place their data into proper geologic context. To that end, we enhanced the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) altimetry dataset for the south polar region, from which we produced new maps of topography, topographic roughness, and permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). The roughness maps reveal a diversity of terrains characterized by hectometer-scale roughness which is controlled in this region primarily by cratering and downslope mass transport. The south polar region is littered with linear roughness features of order ~1 – 10 km wide and ~10s – 100s of km long hypothesized to be secondary impacts within extended ejecta rays. Non uniformities in these features could reflect variations in secondary impactor properties and/or target terrain properties. Poleward of 80° S, the PSR cumulative size-frequency distribution (CSFD) shows an approximately power-law behavior whose exponent has a spatial variation of ~10%. PSRs with areas < 1 km2 contain 15 ± 5% of the total PSR area. Finally, we studied the effect of false positives and false negatives on the accuracy of the measured PSR cumulative size-frequency distribution (CSFD) and on the area for any individual PSR. The new maps presented here have many applications in the science and exploration of the lunar south polar region, such as geologic mapping and traverse planning.

Michael K. Barker↗

Parallel derivative-free optimization for simulation-based design of behind-the-meter energy systems

In this work, the integrated design and dispatch of behind-the-meter or distributed resources (e.g. stationary battery storage and solar PV generation) is considered. A simulation-based framework is employed, generating high-fidelity results with closed-loop predictive control at a fine resolution, at the expense of high computational cost (several minutes to a few hours per design point). To address this challenge, parallel derivative-free design methods are considered. Four methods are compared, including state-of-the-art surrogate-based methods (Radial-Basis Functions and Gaussian processes) and sampling strategies, an evolutionary-based method, and a simple sequential grid refinement method. As a case study, two types of design problem with increasing complexity are considered, namely, the design of behind-the-meter resources (three design variables) and the inclusion of grid capacity (four design variables). The second yields a constrained design problem for which violations can only be determined after solving the computationally expensive simulation. For the three-dimensional case, all methods present a good performance, achieving a solution within 1% of the optimum after the first iteration, with the sequential grid refinement exhibiting the fastest convergence and achieving the best final objective value. This indicates that the parallel evaluation of multiple sampling points may be more important than the choice of method for small decision spaces. For the four-dimensional constrained case, the Genetic Algorithm presents the best tradeoff between performance and computational effort, while the rough objective function terrain generated by constraint violation penalties reduces the performance of surrogate-based methods. Contour plots with flat regions indicate flexibility in the optimal design and highlight the importance of characterizing the solution space.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Mars Rovers: Past, Present, and Future

This viewgraph presentation provides information on the exploration of Mars through the use of rover vehicles. Mars is considered an interesting planet because it is the most like Earth of all known planets, and it may have or have had water on or below its surface. There are many different engineering design challenges for roving vehicles intended for Mars. These include: communications time delay, narrow communications bandwidth, extreme temperatures, rough and rocky terrain, the lack of a global positioning system, and dust. The Sojourner Rover specifications are provided including wheel diameter and instruments. There are prototypes being tested at NASA's Ames Research Center of the next generation Mars rovers.

Bualat, Maria↗

Technology and the Environment

Forest Service officials consulted NASA and found a solution in the application of laser technology originally developed for satellites. NASA/Goddard built a system called a "laser range pole," a portable battery operated back-packed device that allows direct sightings no matter how rough the intervening terrain or how thick the forest. The equipment consists of a laser transmitter and a receiver. From a given property marker, the transmitter pulses a laser beam vertically, several thousand feet in some cases. At a second surveying point about a mile away, the receiver detects the laser pulse high above the trees, and locks in on the exact direction. Thus provided a bearing between the two points, a ground crew can extend the border line back to the sending point by conventional surveying techniques.

Source record↗

Feasibility Study of a Robotic Science Arm on Future Martian Rotorcraft

Science arms are indispensable tools for planetary exploration, allowing vehicles to interact with and manipulate their surroundings in a manner similar to a human field geologist. A majority of the rovers and landers sent to Mars, beginning with Viking I and II in 1976, have made extensive use of these articulated, arm-like devices that allow for sample collection, surface preparation, instrument positioning, and the deployment of ground-contact sensors. Although proven useful, traditional rovers and landers are limited by the rough and difficult terrain of Mars. However, given the successful demonstration of flight on Mars by the Ingenuity helicopter, efforts are underway to outfit larger rotorcraft with science payloads to allow them to explore Mars’ surface and lower atmosphere with significantly more efficiency than land vehicles. Such vehicles could also be designed to work in tandem with landers or rovers. The Mars Science Helicopter (MSH) is a conceptual hexacopter design that is currently under early development by both NASA Ames and JPL. Equipping a vehicle like MSH with a science arm has the potential to further expand its scientific capabilities. This paper approaches the mission and design requirements to equip a science arm on MSH while highlighting the unique technical challenges for robotic arm and science instrument capability. Current plans for MSH development do not include the addition of a robotic arm to the vehicle. However, it is anticipated that future variants of the MSH design might well incorporate such adaptable surface interactive capabilities.

Robotic Science Arm↗

LiDAR-Inertial Based Navigation and Mapping for Precision Landing

Future lander missions will travel to ambitious, scientifically interesting locations near rough and dangerous terrain. They will need to operate with limited prior information about the terrain, and under varying lighting conditions. Landing safely and precisely in the face of these challenges is difficult for existing vision-based landing systems, which require detailed orbital reconnaissance, a priori hazard maps, and impose time-of-day restrictions on landing to ensure similar lighting conditions in orbital and descent imagery. Advanced 3D imaging LiDAR systems currently under development, and originally intended for single-scan hazard detection, have the potential to be operated continuously from altitudes of up to 5 km. Used together with existing inertial measurement units (IMUs), these sensors open a path-to-flight for a full navigation and mapping system, which could replace or augment a traditional landing sensor suite. A landing system based around these sensors can perform accurate altimetry, map-relative localization (MRL), LiDAR-inertial odometry, and map refinement in an illumination-insensitive manner, over unknown or partially known terrain. This paper outlines preliminary work on a LiDAR-inertial landing system that: estimates the spacecraft trajectory during entry, descent, and landing (EDL); and maps the topography of the terrain below, for future use in hazard detection and avoidance. An incremental, factor graph based, smoothing approach is used to solve for the maximum a posteriori trajectory of spacecraft states. Integrated IMU measurements and features tracked in adjacent range and intensity images are used to estimate motion (LiDAR-inertial odometry). LiDAR scans are binned into motion-corrected digital elevation models (DEMs), which are matched to an existing orbital topographic map to provide absolute position information (MRL). The estimated trajectory is then used to project the LiDAR scans into the map frame, creating a variable-resolution quadtree topographic map suitable for hazard detection and avoidance. Existing topographic maps from throughout the solar system (i.e., Earth, the Moon, Mars, Ceres, Vesta, Europa, Enceladus, and Eros) are upsampled for use in EDL simulations. The Mars 2020 Lander Vision System Simulator (LVSS) is extended to simulate LiDAR-inertial data for realistic EDL trajectories. Results of the algorithm operating on the simulated data are presented. Estimated spacecraft trajectory and refined map are compared to ground truth to assess estimation accuracy.

Katake, Anup↗

Collecting Samples from the Máaz Formation of Jezero Crater with the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

Collection of samples that could be returned to Earth from the floor of Jezero,a Noachian crater characterized by a delta–lake system with high potential for habitability, is a major goal of the Mars 2020 mission. The Mars 2020 Perseverancerover iscurrently exploringthe Máaz and Séítahformationsto the southeastof the delta. Here wefocus on thecrater-retainingMáaz formation, a widespread, rough and fractured terrain with lobatemarginsmapped in orbital images, e.g.[1]. Outcrop morphology and texture, as well as the appearance, composition and mineralogy of abraded rock surfaces observed by Perseverance suggest that theMáazformation consists of asequence of maficigneous units, likely lavas flows. These rocks have experienced variable interaction with aqueous fluids. Type localities of the lower Roubion and the more resistant Rochette members of the Máazformation have been targeted and their abraded surfaces characterized prior to sample collection. In thispresentation we will summarize these sampling activities and potential future sampling of theheavily crateredupperCh’ałmember that is indicative of the Máazformationfrom orbit.

Justin Ibrahim Simon↗

Rewriting the Landform History of One of Africa's Three Largest Basins

The Kalahari Basin in southern Africa - one of the largest basins in Africa, along with the Congo and Chad basins - has attracted attention since David Livingstone traveled through the area in the 1840s. It is a semiarid desert with a large freshwater swampland known as the Okavango Swamp (150 km radius). This prominent megafan (a fan with radii >100 km), with its fingers of dark green forests projecting into the dun colors of the dunes of the Kalahari semi-desert, has been well photographed by astronauts over the years. The study area in the northern Kalahari basin is centered on the Okavango megafan of northwest Botswana, whose swampland has become well known as an African wildlife preserve of importance to biology and tourism alike. The Okavango River is unusual because it has deposited not one but two megafans along its course: the Okavango megafan and the Cubango megafan. The Okavango megafan is one of only three well-known megafans in Africa. Megafans on Earth were once thought to be rare, but recent research has documented 68 in Africa alone. Eleven megafans, plus three more candidates, have been documented in the area immediately surrounding the Okavango feature. These 11 megafans occupy the flattest and smoothest terrains adjacent to the neighboring upland and stand out as the darkest areas in the roughness map of the area. Megafan terrains occupy at least 200,000 sq km of the study area. The roughness map shown is based on an algorithm used first on Mars to quantify topographic roughness. Research of Earth's flattest terrains is just beginning with the aid of such maps, and it appears that these terrains are analogous to the flattest regions of Mars. Implications: 1. The variability in depositional style in each subbasin may apply Africa-wide: rift megafan length is dominated by rift width, whereas Owambo subbasin megafans are probably controlled by upland basin size; Zambezi subbasin megafans appear more like foreland basin types, with the position of the trunk river controlling size. 2. These perspectives were successfully applied to identify the largest megafan in the group (Cubango), a fan that was sufficiently overprinted by dunes and dry lakelets not to be detectable remotely. Such undertsanding can probably be applied on Mars, where Earth experience suggests megafans ought to exist. 3. Sweep angles of rivers on megafans drastically change the hydrology in some subbasins: when the Cubango and Kunene rivers were oriented to the Etosha Pan, it was probably a permanent water body. Now that the rivers are oriented away from the basin, 93 percent of the discharge area from the pan's northerly (main) source area is gone. 4. Biotic contact between major river systems was probably controlled by megafans situated on divides: various fish species that originated in the Congo basin are now found in the Upper Zambezi R., and vice versa, apparently because of river switching behavior on the Cassai megafan that has mediated migrations both to the south and the north.

Wilkinson, Justin↗

Rough-to-smooth transition of an equilibrium neutral constant stress layer

Purpose of research on rough-to-smooth transition of an equilibrium neutral constant stress layer is to develop a model for low-level atmospheric flow over terrains of abruptly changing roughness, such as those occurring near the windward end of a landing strip, and to use the model to derive functions which define the extent of the region affected by the roughness change and allow adequate prediction of wind and shear stress profiles at all points within the region. A model consisting of two bounding logarithmic layers and an intermediate velocity defect layer is assumed, and dimensionless velocity and stress distribution functions which meet all boundary and matching conditions are hypothesized. The functions are used in an asymptotic form of the equation of motion to derive a relation which governs the growth of the internal boundary layer. The growth relation is used to predict variation of surface shear stress.

Logan, E., Jr.↗

Radar observations of a volcanic terrain: Askja Caldera, Iceland

Surface roughness spectra of nine radar backscatter units in the Askja caldera region of Iceland were predicted from computer-enhanced like- and cross-polarized radar images. A field survey of the caldera was then undertaken to check the accuracy of the preliminary analysis. There was good agreement between predicted surface roughness of backscatter units and surface roughness observed in the field. In some cases, variations in surface roughness could be correlated with previously mapped geologic units.

Evans, D. L.↗

Mars: Fretted and chaotic terrains

Fretted Martian terrain is characterized by smooth, flat, lowland areas separated from a cratered upland by abrupt escarpments of complex planimetric configuration and a maximum estimated height approaching 1 to 2 km. It is the product of some unusual erosive or abstractive process that has created steep escarpments. Chaotic terrain differs from fretted terrain in having a rough floor topography featuring a haphazard jumble of large angular blocks, and by arc-shaped slump blocks on its bounding escarpments. Its existence has now been confirmed by Mariner 9 pictures, and the characteristics, location, and areal extent of chaotic terrain have been more accurately and completely defined.

Sharp, R. P.↗

The Effects of Laterite and Associated Terrain Components on PBMR Response in HAPEX-Sahel

Terrain characteristics such as roughness and vegetation have been shown to significantly affect the interpretation of microwave brightness temperatures (T(B)s) for mapping soil moisture. This study, a part of the 1992 HAPEX-Sahel experiment (Hydrologic Atmospheric Pilot Experiment in the Sahel), aimed to determine the effects of laterite and associated terrain components (i.e. vegetation, soil, and exposed water bodies) on the T(B) response of the Pushbroom Microwave Radiometer (PBMR, L-band, 21 cm wavelength), using the NS001 Thematic Mapper Simulator data as a surrogate for ground data. Coincident PBMR and NS001 data acquired from the high altitude (about 1500 m) long transect flights were processed to obtain TBs and radiances, respectively. The transects covered a range of moisture conditions. For this preliminary evaluation, no atmospheric corrections were applied, and the data sets were aligned by matching the acquisition times of the data records. NS001 pixels (about 4 m) were averaged to approximate the resolution of the PBMR (about 450 m), before their flight line data were compared. The laterite plateaux were found to have a surprisingly strong effect on the PBMR T(B) response. T(B) variations along the flight line could largely be explained by a combination of density and dielectric properties of laterite. The effect of surface moisture was distinguishable from the laterite effect, with the distinction apparently related to the occurrence of ephemeral pools of water after rainfall. Model simulated T(B)s agreed reasonably well with the observed T(B)s.

Teng, William L.↗

A formational model for the polygonal terrains of Mars: Taking a crack at the genesis of the Martian polygons

The mechanism for the genesis of the polygonal terrains in Acidalia and Utopia Planitia has long been sought: however, no completely satisfying model was put forth that characterizes the evolution of these complexly patterned terrains. The polygons are roughly hexagonal but some are not entirely enclosed by fractures. These polygonal features range in widths from approximately 5 to 20 km. Several origins were proposed that describe the polygon borders as desiccation cracks, columnar jointing in a cooled lava, or frost-wedge features. These tension-induced cracking hypotheses were addressed by Pechmann, who convincingly disputes these mechanisms of formation based on scale magnitude difficulties and morphology. Pechmann suggests instead that the cracks delineating the 5-20-km-wide polygons on the northern plains of Mars are graben resulting from deep-seated, uniform, horizontal tension. The difficulty with this hypothesis is that no analogous polygonal forms are known to have originated by tectonism on Earth. McGill and Hills propose that the polygonal terrains on Mars resulted from either rapid desiccation of sediments or cooling of volcanics coupled with differential compaction of the material over a buried irregular topographic surface. They suggest that fracturing was enhanced over the areas of positive relief and was suppressed above the topographic lows. McGill and Hills suggest that the spacing of the topographic highs primarily controls the size of the Martian polygons and the physics of the shrinkage process is a secondary concern. Ray et. al. conducted a terrestrial study of patterned ground in periglacial areas of the U.S. to determine the process responsible for polygonal ground formation. They developed a model for polygon formation in which convection of seasonal melt water above a permafrost layer, driven by an unstable density stratification, differentially melts the permafrost interface, causing it to become undulatory.

Wenrich, M. L.↗

Airborne and spaceborne radar images for geologic and environmental mapping in the Amazon rain forest, Brazil

Spaceborne and airborne radar image of portions of the Middle and Upper Amazon basin in the state of Amazonas and the Territory of Roraima are compared for purposes of geological and environmental mapping. The contrasted illumination geometries and imaging parameters are related to terrain slope and surface roughness characteristics for corresponding areas that were covered by each of the radar imaging systems. Landforms range from deeply dissected mountain and plateau with relief up to 500 m in Roraima, revealing ancient layered rocks through folded residual mountains to deeply beveled pediplain in Amazonas. Geomorphic features provide distinct textural signatures that are characteristic of different rock associations. The principle drainages in the areas covered are the Rio Negro, Rio Branco, and the Rio Japura. Shadowing effects and low radar sensitivity to subtle linear fractures that are aligned parallel or nearly parallel to the direction of radar illumination illustrate the need to obtain multiple coverage with viewing directions about 90 degrees. Perception of standing water and alluvial forest in floodplains varies with incident angle and with season. Multitemporal data sets acquired over periods of years provide an ideal method of monitoring environmental changes.

Ford, John P.↗

Sources of low-level wind shear around airports

Some potential sources of low-level wind shear in and around airports and their likely effects are probed and analyzed. Wind shear over flat terrain with near-homogeneous surface properties (roughness, specific heat), the turning layer, shear flows over inhomogeneous terrain (airport + urban areas), thunderstorms, turbulent flowfields over bluff bodies (individual buildings), and recirculating wake flow downstream of three-dimensional block bodies are among the topics covered. Overshoot or undershoot of runways, and induced moments (pitch, roll, yaw) in takeoff and landing, and other potential hazards traceable to wind shear patterns at low heights are discussed, with emphasis on mean flow or steady-state wind shear (time-averaged, say 2-min averaged, wind fields). Wind tunnel studies and V/STOL operations are included in the study.

Fichtl, G. H.↗