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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Immersive Technologies for Human-in-the-Loop Lunar Surface Simulations

NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, continually seeks innovative solutions to enhance its operations, particularly in the realms of testing, evaluation, and training for future missions. Immersive technologies, such as virtual, augmented, and mixed reality have proven to be powerful tools for realistic, interactive, and engaging environments. This paper explores how the Simulation and Graphics Branch at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) leverages immersive technology, modern commercial rendering engines, and physics-based systems simulations to develop human-in-the-loop systems for humanity’s return to the Moon through the Artemis program. When NASA returns to the Moon, astronauts will travel to the Moon’s South Pole where lighting conditions will cause a more complex operational environment. Human-in-the-loop testing plays a crucial role in NASA's mission planning, spacecraft and space systems development, and evaluation of operational scenarios. The development of immersive environments such as a lunar rover mockup at a video wall enables engineers and astronauts to simulate and experience mission scenarios, integrated spacecraft systems, and operational procedures in a relevant environment before deployment. By integrating realistic virtual environments, immersive technology allows for the visualization and interaction with virtual spacecraft models, mission landscapes, and complex operational tasks. This approach helps identify potential design flaws, operational challenges, and safety considerations. It also provides valuable insights for risk reduction and helps improve mission efficiency and effectiveness. With advanced motion tracking systems and custom virtual environments data can be gathered and evaluated to help NASA refine training protocols, develop specialized training procedures and optimize human-robotic interactions for future space missions. Furthermore, immersive technology offers opportunities for future training initiatives at NASA. The Virtual Reality Laboratory at JSC has pioneered training with Virtual Reality (VR) since the Hubble Space Telescope repair missions in the early 1990’s. Extended Reality (XR) simulations enable astronauts to rehearse complex spacewalks, spacecraft maneuvers, and extravehicular activities in a safe and controlled environment. By replicating the physical and cognitive challenges of space missions, immersive training experiences enhance astronauts' situational awareness, decision-making abilities, and adaptability to unexpected scenarios. Additionally, immersive technology facilitates collaborative training, allowing geographically dispersed crew and mission control personnel to engage in synchronized simulations, fostering teamwork and effective communication. The adoption of immersive technology in NASA's testing, evaluation, and future training programs has yielded significant benefits. By incorporating human-in-the-loop testing for studies involving Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA), surface mobility and landing systems, NASA can identify and mitigate risks, optimize operational procedures, and enhance mission success. Ultimately, immersive training experiences can empower astronauts to better navigate the complexities of space missions, ensuring their safety, productivity, and success in the dynamic and challenging environments they will experience at the Lunar South Pole.

Simulation Modeling Virtual Reality Immersive Tech↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Immersive Technologies for Human-in-the-Loop Lunar Surface Simulations

NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, continually seeks innovative solutions to enhance its operations, particularly in the realms of testing, evaluation, and training for future missions. Immersive technologies, such as virtual, augmented, and mixed reality have proven to be powerful tools for immersing users in realistic, interactive, and engaging environments. This paper explores how the Simulation and Graphics Branch at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) leverages immersive technology, modern commercial rendering engines, and physics-based systems simulations to develop human-in-the-loop systems for humanity’s return to the Moon through the Artemis program. When NASA returns to the Moon, astronauts will travel to the Moon’s South Pole where lighting conditions will cause a more complex operational environment. Human-in-the-loop simulations play a crucial role in NASA’s mission planning, spacecraft and space systems development, and evaluation of operational scenarios. The development of immersive environments such as a lunar rover mockup at a video wall enables engineers and astronauts to simulate and experience mission scenarios, integrated spacecraft systems, and operational procedures in a relevant environment before deployment. By integrating realistic virtual environments, immersive technology allows for the visualization and interaction with virtual spacecraft models, mission landscapes, and complex operational tasks. This approach helps identify potential design flaws, operational challenges, and safety considerations. It also provides valuable insights for risk reduction and helps improve mission efficiency and effectiveness. With advanced motion tracking systems and custom virtual environments, data can be gathered and evaluated to help NASA refine training protocols, develop specialized training procedures, and optimize human-robotic interactions for future space missions. Furthermore, immersive technology offers opportunities for future training initiatives at NASA. The Virtual Reality Laboratory at JSC has pioneered training with Virtual Reality (VR) since the Hubble Space Telescope repair missions in the early 1990’s. Extended Reality (XR) simulations enable astronauts to rehearse complex spacewalks, spacecraft maneuvers, and extravehicular activities in a safe and controlled environment. By replicating the physical and cognitive challenges of space missions, immersive training experiences enhance astronauts’ situational awareness, decision-making abilities, and adaptability to unexpected scenarios. Additionally, immersive technology facilitates collaborative training, allowing geographically dispersed crew and mission control personnel to engage in synchronized simulations, fostering teamwork and effective communication. The adoption of immersive technology in NASA’s testing, evaluation, and future training programs has yielded significant benefits. By incorporating human-in-the-loop simulations for studies involving Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA), surface mobility and landing systems, NASA can identify and mitigate risks, optimize operational procedures, and enhance mission success. Ultimately, immersive simulation experiences can empower astronauts to better navigate the complexities of space missions, ensuring their safety, productivity, and success in the dynamic and challenging environments they will experience at the Lunar South Pole.

HITL↗

NASA NTRS2015

Critical Team Composition Issues for Long-Distance and Long-Duration Space Exploration: A Literature Review, an Operational Assessment, and Recommendations for Practice and Research

Prevailing team effectiveness models suggest that teams are best positioned for success when certain enabling conditions are in place (Hackman, 1987; Hackman, 2012; Mathieu, Maynard, Rapp, & Gilson, 2008; Wageman, Hackman, & Lehman, 2005). Team composition, or the configuration of member attributes, is an enabling structure key to fostering competent teamwork (Hackman, 2002; Wageman et al., 2005). A vast body of research supports the importance of team composition in team design (Bell, 2007). For example, team composition is empirically linked to outcomes such as cooperation (Eby & Dobbins, 1997), social integration (Harrison, Price, Gavin, & Florey, 2002), shared cognition (Fisher, Bell, Dierdorff, & Belohlav, 2012), information sharing (Randall, Resick, & DeChurch, 2011), adaptability (LePine, 2005), and team performance (e.g., Bell, 2007). As such, NASA has identified team composition as a potentially powerful means for mitigating the risk of performance decrements due to inadequate crew cooperation, coordination, communication, and psychosocial adaptation in future space exploration missions. Much of what is known about effective team composition is drawn from research conducted in conventional workplaces (e.g., corporate offices, production plants). Quantitative reviews of the team composition literature (e.g., Bell, 2007; Bell, Villado, Lukasik, Belau, & Briggs, 2011) are based primarily on traditional teams. Less is known about how composition affects teams operating in extreme environments such as those that will be experienced by crews of future space exploration missions. For example, long-distance and long-duration space exploration (LDSE) crews are expected to live and work in isolated and confined environments (ICEs) for up to 30 months. Crews will also experience communication time delays from mission control, which will require crews to work more autonomously (see Appendix A for more detailed information regarding the LDSE context). Given the unique context within which LDSE crews will operate, NASA identified both a gap in knowledge related to the effective composition of autonomous, LDSE crews, and the need to identify psychological and psychosocial factors, measures, and combinations thereof that can be used to compose highly effective crews (Team Gap 8). As an initial step to address Team Gap 8, we conducted a focused literature review and operational assessment related to team composition issues for LDSE. The objectives of our research were to: (1) identify critical team composition issues and their effects on team functioning in LDSE-analogous environments with a focus on key composition factors that will most likely have the strongest influence on team performance and well-being, and 1 Astronaut diary entry in regards to group interaction aboard the ISS (p.22; Stuster, 2010) 2 (2) identify and evaluate methods used to compose teams with a focus on methods used in analogous environments. The remainder of the report includes the following components: (a) literature review methodology, (b) review of team composition theory and research, (c) methods for composing teams, (d) operational assessment results, and (e) recommendations.

Bell, Suzanne T.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

How Autonomous Intelligent Systems Can Facilitate Earth-independent Medical Care: Going Beyond Telepresence

During the last decade, teleoperated robotic systems have extended humans’ sensorimotor competence to digitally fly beyond the physical barrier of distance and scale and thus transmit sensorimotor skills of the human through direct communication. Telepresence capabilities have enabled tele-physical remote access at small scales thanks to telerobotic mediums. Although the concept was initially motivated by space applications, such technologies quickly have expanded into the medical domain and resulted in teleoperated medical robots, including telerobotic surgical systems (such as the da Vinci surgical system). Effective telepresence fundamentally depends on an agile, reliable, and secure communication medium that can transmit real-time information between the operator and a remote device. However, direct telepresence may not be achievable for long-duration exploration spaceflight missions. Thus, autonomous systems and local intelligence represent potential solutions to the aforementioned issues. One example solution employs demonstration systems which enable learning from the pre-captured inputs of a skilled human operator. These will be computationally modeled and later probabilistically replicated toward the completion of remote physical tasks when direct telepresence is not viable - such as under communication blackout conditions. In other words, trained autonomous systems (e.g., robots) can perform remote operations that mimic the physical performance of experts during remote operations/training. Beyond learning the physics of the task, autonomous agents can also be used to conduct algorithmic decision-making that mimics the higher-level cognition of the expert. Thus, using an autonomous system, pre-trained cognitive and manipulation-based skills can be leveraged (acquired during pre-mission events) to produce digital twins of an intelligent operator. Such systems can be used for the real-time conduction of intricate tasks in complex and unstructured environments. Such systems will operationalize “cognitive digital twins” and can expand the reach of human cognition and manipulation through the power of data-driven learning from demonstration algorithms. This system category will be discussed as a fully autonomous operation in this talk. In addition to the above, we will also propose and discuss the possibility of partial-automation using remote intelligence and remote sensing. In contrast to full automation, partial automation can close the loop through a local operator equipped with augmented sensory awareness through wearable systems. Such technologies will allow the local operator to conduct delicate tasks while being guided using sensory augmentation and being monitored to gauge her/his level of cognitive focus and performance. The difference with the previous category is that a remote human will conduct the task. Further, rather than making a digital twin of human cognition, we will augment the control inputs of the local human to match those of the skilled expert operator who is not accessible in real-time. Going beyond classic telepresence and thus approaching intelligent telepresence, our vision is that autonomous agents will eventually enable the safe, consistent and efficient delivery of complex, remote and smart medical care during space exploration across operators in an Earth-independent fashion. We will discuss our collective vision from NASA and MERIIT@NYU lab in this talk.

Telepresence↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Teams in Space: Knowledge Gained, but More to Explore

NASA’s Human Research Program oversees the Team Risk (i.e., Risk of Performance and Behavioral Health Decrements due to Inadequate Cooperation, Coordination, Communication and Psychosocial Adaptation within a Team). Research in this area informs all aspects of an astronaut’s career, from hiring to training to mission support, and works to address new challenges related to lunar and Mars missions. NASA’s astronaut selection process creates an astronaut corps of highly qualified, team-oriented individuals, which allows mission planners much flexibility in composing small crews for specific missions. These crews are further developed and supported through extensive training, including team skills training, and countermeasures available to the crew throughout the mission. However, in the high consequence environment of long-duration missions, team composition is complex and is not a one-time concern to be addressed pre-mission. Team factors such as team cohesion, dyadic relationships, and shared team cognition are likely to change dynamically in response to each interaction and event experienced by the individuals and the team as a whole. Thus, monitoring and optimizing team composition at a more micro level (e.g., per task) is one way to support team functioning and performance. Spaceflight teams research also includes the multi-team system of Mission Control and coordination between space-to-ground, adding another avenue in which risk might be introduced, particularly under exploration missions that experience significant communication delays. Spaceflight teams research has recently experienced a concentrated flurry of analog research over the past decade, shedding light on the many unique challenges and potential solutions to mitigate the team risk in long-duration exploration missions. However, questions still remain about how to, for example, create unobtrusive operational measures and how to advance interdisciplinary teams research and countermeasure development. We present an overview of the challenges facing teams in space, our current knowledge, and the next steps for research and spaceflight operations.

Lauren Blackwell Landon↗

NASA NTRS1992

Learning about primates' learning, language, and cognition

Results are presented of many years of research on the methods of teaching primates the language and cognitive skills which were long considered to be unteachable to particular species of primates. It was found that chimpanzee subjects could not only learn a number of 'stock sentences' but to use them in variations and several combinations for the purpose of solving various problems. Apes placed in different rooms could be taught to communicate via computer, and collaborate with each other on doing specific tasks. Contrary to expectations, young rhesus monkeys proved to be able to learn as much as the chimpanzee species.

Rumbaugh, Duane M.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Self-Healing RF/Microwave Communications Circuits/Systems for NASA Missions - A Review

The success of current and future NASA missions relies in great part on the performance reliability and robustness of the communication circuits and systems of said missions. Some of the manifestations of reliability and robustness are comprised by properties such as graceful degradation, which provide redundancy and potentially longer life to the mission, and the ability to perform efficiently in harsh environments destinations such as Venus and the Jovian and Saturnian moons Europa and Enceladus, respectively. While several approaches have been considered or are currently underway to develop communications circuitry capable of performing in harsh environments, they lack the flexibility to enable reconfigurability to preserve functionality under adverse or contingency scenarios. This paper discusses some examples of self-healing RF/Microwave communications circuits and systems that could provide advantageous options in support of NASA missions.

Self-healing↗

NASA NTRS1993

Toward an embedded training tool for Deep Space Network operations

There are three issues to consider when building an embedded training system for a task domain involving the operation of complex equipment: (1) how skill is acquired in the task domain; (2) how the training system should be designed to assist in the acquisition of the skill, and more specifically, how an intelligent tutor could aid in learning; and (3) whether it is feasible to incorporate the resulting training system into the operational environment. This paper describes how these issues have been addressed in a prototype training system that was developed for operations in NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The first two issues were addressed by building an executable cognitive model of problem solving and skill acquisition of the task domain and then using the model to design an intelligent tutor. The cognitive model was developed in Soar for the DSN's Link Monitor and Control (LMC) system; it led to several insights about learning in the task domain that were used to design an intelligent tutor called REACT that implements a method called 'impasse-driven tutoring'. REACT is one component of the LMC training system, which also includes a communications link simulator and a graphical user interface. A pilot study of the LMC training system indicates that REACT shows promise as an effective way for helping operators to quickly acquire expert skills.

Hill, Randall W., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Capturing Safety Requirements to Enable Effective Task Allocation Between Humans and Automaton in Increasingly Autonomous Systems

There is a current drive towards enabling the deployment of increasingly autonomous systems in the National Airspace System (NAS). However, shifting the traditional roles and responsibilities between humans and automation for safety critical tasks must be managed carefully, otherwise the current emergent safety properties of the NAS may be disrupted. In this paper, a verification activity to assess the emergent safety properties of a clearly defined, safety critical, operational scenario that possesses tasks that can be fluidly allocated between human and automated agents is conducted. Task allocation role sets were proposed for a human-automation team performing a contingency maneuver in a reduced crew context. A safety critical contingency procedure (engine out on takeoff) was modeled in the Soar cognitive architecture, then translated into the Hybrid Input Output formalism. Verification activities were then performed to determine whether or not the safety properties held over the increasingly autonomous system. The verification activities lead to the development of several key insights regarding the implicit assumptions on agent capability. It subsequently illustrated the usefulness of task annotations associated with specialized requirements (e.g., communication, timing etc.), and demonstrated the feasibility of this approach.

Neogi, Natasha A.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Considerations for the Next Revision of NASA's Space Telecommunications Radio System Architecture

Development of NASA's Software Defined Radio architecture, the Space Telecommunication Radio System (STRS), was initiated in 2004 with a goal of reducing the cost, risk and schedule when implementing Software Defined Radios (SDR) for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space missions. Since STRS was first flown in 2012 on three Software Defined Radios on the Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Testbed, only minor changes have been made to the architecture. Multiple entities have since implemented the architecture and provided significant feedback for consideration for the next revision of the standard. The focus for the first set of updates to the architecture is items that enhance application portability. Items that require modifications to existing applications before migrating to the updated architecture will only be considered if there is compelling reasons to make the change. The significant suggestions that were further evaluated for consideration include expanding and clarifying the timing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), improving handle name and identification (ID) definitions and use, and multiple items related to implementation of STRS Devices. In addition to ideas suggested while implementing STRS, SDR technology has evolved significantly and this impact to the architecture needs to be considered. These include incorporating cognitive concepts - learning from past decisions and making new decisions that the radio can act upon. SDRs are also being developed that do not contain a General Purpose Module - which is currently required for the platform to be STRS compliant. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the comments received, provide a summary of the evaluation considerations, and examine planned dispositions.

transmitters receivers↗

NASA NTRS2016

Considerations for the Next Revision of STRS

Development of NASAs Software Defined Radio architecture, the Space Telecommunication Radio System (STRS), was initiated in 2004 with a goal of reducing the cost, risk and schedule when implementing Software Defined Radios (SDR) for NASA space missions. Since STRS was first flown in 2012 on three Software Defined Radios on the Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Testbed, only minor changes have been made to the architecture. Multiple entities have since implemented the architecture and have provided significant feedback for consideration for the next revision of the standard. The focus for the first set of updates to the architecture is items that enhance application portability. Items that require modifications to existing applications before migrating to the updated architecture will only be considered if there is compelling reasons to make the change. The significant suggestions that were further evaluated for consideration include expanding and clarifying the timing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), improving handle name and identification (ID) definitions and use, and multiple items related to implementation of STRS Devices. In addition to ideas suggested while implementing STRS, SDR technology has evolved significantly and this impact to the architecture needs to be considered. These include incorporating cognitive concepts - learning from past decisions and making new decisions that the radio can act upon. SDRs are also being developed that do not contain a General Purpose Module which is currently required for the platform to be STRS compliant. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the comments received, provide a summary of the evaluation considerations, and examine planned dispositions

waveforms↗

NASA NTRS2010

Human Performance in Space

Human factors is a critical discipline for human spaceflight. Nearly every human factors research area is relevant to space exploration -- from the ergonomics of hand tools used by astronauts, to the displays and controls of a spacecraft cockpit or mission control workstation, to levels of automation designed into rovers on Mars, to organizational issues of communication between crew and ground. This chapter focuses more on the ways in which the space environment (especially altered gravity and the isolated and confined nature of long-duration spaceflight) affects crew performance, and thus has specific novel implications for human factors research and practice. We focus on four aspects of human performance: neurovestibular integration, motor control and musculo-skeletal effects, cognitive effects, and behavioral health. We also provide a sampler of recent human factors studies from NASA.

Jones, Patricia M.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Self-Healing RF/Microwave Communications Circuits/Systems for NASA Missions—A Review

self-healing↗

DOE OSTI2023

Identifying human failure events (HFEs) for external hazard probabilistic risk assessment

In recent years, several advancements in nuclear power plant (NPP) probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) have been driven by increased understanding of external hazards, plant response, and uncertainties. However, major sources of uncertainty associated with external hazard PRA remain. One important source is how risk-significant human actions that are carried out to enable plant response and recovery from natural hazards cause the close coupling of physical impacts on plants and overall plant risk during these hazard events. This makes human reliability and human-plant interactions important elements to consider in resolving PRA gaps in external hazards. One of the challenges in considering human response in external hazard probabilistic risk assessment (XHPRA) is that most existing human reliability analysis (HRA) models were not developed for assessing actions outside the control room (termed ex-control room actions) and hazard response. To support this new scope, HRA models will need to be developed or modified to support identification of human activities, causal factors, and uncertainties inherent in external hazard response, thereby providing insights regarding event timing and physical event conditions as they relate to human performance. In this study, there are two main objectives: (1) evaluate the applicability of an existing cognitive-based HRA method, Phoenix, to ex-control room actions, and (2) identify sources of uncertainty to be characterized or reduced in order to make this method suitable for XHPRA. The first step of such work is performed by assessing the suitability of existing HRA methods to support identifying human failure events (HFEs) for human response to flooding hazards. These HFEs are human actions or inactions that are involved in human responses to flooding hazards and could contribute to the loss of a critical function for the plant in the scenario being examined. Here, in this work, decomposition analyses using the cognitive-based Phoenix HRA model are used to identify HFEs. The Phoenix method was found to be suitable for analyzing ex-control room actions as well as identifying specific HFEs and underlying crew failure modes (CFMs). However, the method's suitability for use in ex-control room actions would benefit from expanding the available CFMs to accommodate a larger variety of physical and communication tasks.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS2018

Do You See What I See? Interactive Visualization of Mission Design and Navigation

Mission Design and Navigation (MDNav) is an intensive process requiring advanced computational resources, expert human intuition, and many successive human-in-the-loop iterations to converge on acceptable trajectory designs or navigation solutions. The current bottleneck in MDNav is not the underlying computational algorithms but the human cognitive capacity to prune through a multitude of simulated results to select high-value candidates. One approach to alleviate this burden is through the judicious application of visualizations that allow humans to interactively ﬁlter data in multiple dimensions to reveal salient patterns and highlight divergences. When designed eﬃciently, such interactive visualizations should aid human operators to get familiar with data faster, visually observe correlations, and communicate ﬁndings more eﬀortlessly. In this work, we present three visualization case studies that have the potential to increase human operator eﬃciency in MDNav. While identifying the most critical “pain points” that operators face, and also working on potential solutions, we followed a human-centered design approach. We started with a series of interviews with potential users, and then rapidly created prototypes for alternative solutions, validated outcomes with feedback from users through out development of these proof of concept visualizations. With this survey of our current eﬀorts, we demonstrate the transformative capability of interactive data visualizations for improving mission development and operations, enabling operators to grow intuition, and communicating key concepts across diverse mission teams.

Arora, Nitin↗

NASA NTRS2005

A CSP-Based Agent Modeling Framework for the Cougaar Agent-Based Architecture

Cognitive Agent Architecture (Cougaar) is a Java-based architecture for large-scale distributed agent-based applications. A Cougaar agent is an autonomous software entity with behaviors that represent a real-world entity (e.g., a business process). A Cougaar-based Model Driven Architecture approach, currently under development, uses a description of system's functionality (requirements) to automatically implement the system in Cougaar. The Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) formalism is used for the formal validation of the generated system. Two main agent components, a blackboard and a plugin, are modeled as CSP processes. A set of channels represents communications between the blackboard and individual plugins. The blackboard is represented as a CSP process that communicates with every agent in the collection. The developed CSP-based Cougaar modeling framework provides a starting point for a more complete formal verification of the automatically generated Cougaar code. Currently it is used to verify the behavior of an individual agent in terms of CSP properties and to analyze the corresponding Cougaar society.

Gracanin, Denis↗

DOE OSTI2023

Neck Muscle Coactivation Response to Varied Levels of Mental Workload During Simulated Flight Tasks

Objective To evaluate neck muscle coactivation across different levels of mental workload during simulated flight tasks. Background Neck pain (NP) is highly prevalent among military aviators. Given the complex nature within the flight environment, mental workload may be a risk factor for NP. This may induce higher levels of neck muscle coactivity, which over time may accelerate fatigue, increase neck discomfort, and affect flight task performance. Method Three counterbalanced mental workload conditions represented by simulated flight tasks modulated by interstimulus frequency and complexity were investigated using the Modifiable Multitasking Environment (ModME). The primary measure was a neck coactivation index to describe the neuromuscular effort of the neck muscles as a system. Additional measures included perceived workload (NASA TLX), subjective discomfort, and task performance. Participants ( n = 60; 30M, 30F) performed three test conditions over 1 hr each while seated in a simulated seating environment. Results Neck coactivation indices (CoA) and subjective neck discomfort corresponded with increasing level of mental workload. Average CoAs for low, medium, and high workloads were: .0278(SD = .0232), .0286(SD = .0231), and .0295(SD = .0228), respectively. NASA TLX mental, temporal, effort, and overall scores also increased with the level of mental workload assigned. For ModME task performance, the overall performance score, monitoring accuracy, and resource management accuracy decreased while reaction times increased with the increasing level of mental workload. Communication accuracy was lowest with the low mental workload but had higher reaction times relative to increasing workload. Conclusion Mental workload affects neck muscle coactivation during combinations of simulated flight tasks within a simulated helicopter seating environment. Application The results of this study provide insights into the physical response to mental workload. With increasing multisensory modalities within the work environment, these insights may assist the consideration of physical effects from cognitive factors.

Behavioral Sciences↗

NASA NTRS2024

Assessments of Physiology and Cognition in Hybrid-Reality Environments (APACHE) – A VR “Sandbox” for Planetary Spacewalk Research

NASA is planning to return to the Moon in the mid-2020s as a steppingstone 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.

Human Performance↗