This content is not included in
your SAE MOBILUS subscription, or you are not logged in.
NASA Lunar Surface Habitat and Remote Exploration Demonstration Project
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
The U.S. is preparing to return to the Moon by the end of the present decade, and to then establish a permanent base within the next. Establishment of permanent, eventually self-sufficient, Lunar bases will provide critical experience in learning how to construct, operate and occupy planetary-surface facilities; make use of in-situ resources; and prepare human crews for more arduous interplanetary missions. The development of safe, effective and reliable systems to support these missions requires that independently engineered subsystems be fully integrated and tested under increasingly realistic and representational conditions before relying on their use in operational settings. Toward the development of such technological integration and demonstration capabilities, the NASA Ames Research Center is currently conducting the Human Exploration Demonstration Project (HEDP) to simulate “A Day in The Life of a Planetary-Surface Habitat.”
For the early demonstration phase of the HEDP, simulation scenarios have been designed to illustrate a range of events that are projected to occur in a Lunar surface exploration habitat. A full-scale simulator of a Lunar habitat will integrate both habitable residential and work environments. A Lunar-terrain-surface simulator will be located external to and approximately 1 mile remote from the habitat. Located on the terrain surface will be robotic devices which will to be used in work assignments and as targets for workstation commands. Use of these devices is not for development of robots per se, but to create realistic operational scenarios equivalent to those anticipated on the Lunar surface. The habitat and terrain environments will be coupled through an underlying data network that will include a common set of services and provide a medium for overall system integration. A number of these services will utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to maximize autonomy and minimize crew work loads.
While the initial HEDP simulation scenarios involve a Lunar environment, in fact, the HEDP system and subsystem designs and conditions are also largely applicable to the environment of Mars as well as to conditions aboard an interplanetary space craft. Demonstration of various aspects of human exploration and habitation on extraterrestrial surfaces is a primary objective for the HEDP. However, some of the technologies to be demonstrated are also deemed applicable to unmanned precursor mission functions involving remote telepresence and teleoperations. Thus, the HEDP will provide a unique opportunity to address a broad spectrum of advanced mission operations by bridging between the early requirements for robotic systems with control at Earth-based workstations and later, partially-automated planetary-exploration systems with local control.
Authors
Topic
Citation
Clearwater, Y., "NASA Lunar Surface Habitat and Remote Exploration Demonstration Project," SAE Technical Paper 921194, 1992, https://doi.org/10.4271/921194.Also In
References
- Billingham J. ‘ An Overview of Selected Biomedical Aspects of Mars Missions ’ in Case for Mars III: Strategies for Exploration - General Interest and Overview Stoker C. Univelt San Diego 1989 157 170
- Bluth B.J. Helppie M. ‘Soviet Space Stations as Analogs’ NASA Grant NAGW-659 NASA Washington D.C. August 1986
- Chaikan A. ‘Shoot for the Moon’ Air and Space/Smithsonian 6 42 51 1991
- Clearwater Y.A. ‘A Human Place in Outer Space’ Psychology Today 34 43 July 1985
- Clearwater Y. A. ‘Human Factors Design of Habitable Space Facilities’ IAF/AIAA Technical Paper, No.87-549 AIAA Washington D.C. 1987
- Clearwater Y.A. ‘Space Station Habitability Research’ Acta Astronautica 17 217 222 1988
- Clearwater Y.A. ‘ Crew-Environment Research Technical Plan ’ chapter in the Crew Research and Space-Human-Factors Program Plan NASA, Ames Research Center 1989
- Clearwater Y.A. Harrison A.A. ‘Crew Support for an Initial Mars Expedition’ Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 43 1990 513 518
- Collins M. ‘Mission to Mars’ National Geographic 174 733 764 November 1989
- Connors M.M. Harrison A.A. Akins F.R. ‘Living Aloft: Human Requirements for Extended Spaceflight’ NASA 1985
- Duke M.B. Mendell W.W. Roberts B.B. ‘ Strategies for a Permanent Lunar Base ’ in Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century Mendell W.W. Lunar and Planetary Institute Houston 1985 57 68
- Harrison A.A. Clearwater Y.A. McKay C.P. ‘The Human Experience in Antarctica: Applications to Life in Space’ Behavioral Science 34 253 271 1989
- Harrison A.A. Clearwater Y.A. McKay C.P. ‘From Antarctica to Outer Space: Life in Isolation and Confinement’ New York, Springer Verlag 1991
- Helmrich R.L. ‘Applying Psychology in Outer Space: Unfulfilled Promises Revisted’ American Psychologist 38 445 450 1983
- Lin T.D. in Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century Mendell W.W. Lunar and Planetary Institute Houston 1985 381 390
- Mendell W.W. ‘Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century’ Lunar and Planetary Institute Houston 1985
- NASA, Ames Research Center ‘Pathfinder Program Plan’ 1988 83 98
- NASA Project Plan for the Human Exploration Demonstration Project January 1992
- Palinkas L.A. ‘ Group Adaptation and Individual Adjustment in Antarctica: A Summary of Recent Work ’ in From Antarctica to Outer Space: Life in Isolation and Confinement Harrison A.A. Clearwater Y.A. McKay C.P. Springer Verlag, New York 1991 239 252
- Nicholas J.M. Foushee H. C. Ulschak H. L. ‘Crew Productivity Issues in Long Duration Space Flight’ AIAA Tech. Paper. No. 88-0444 Washington D.C 1988
- Rivolier J. Bachelard C Cazes G. ‘ Crew Selection for an Antarctic-Based Simulator ’ in From Antarctica to Outer Space: Life in Isolation and Confinement Harrison A.A. Clearwater Y.A. McKay C.P. Springer Verlag, New York 1991 291 296
- Santy P. ‘The Journey Out and the Journey In: Psychiatry and Space Exploration’ American Journal of Psychiatry 140 519 527 1983
- Suedfeld P. ‘ Groups in Isolation and Confinement: Environments and Experiences ’ in From Antarctica to Outer Space: Life in Isolation and Confinement Harrison A.A. Clearwater Y.A. McKay C.P. Springer Verlag, New York 1991 135 146
- Stuster J.W. ‘Space Station Habitability Recommendations Based on a Systematic Analysis of Analogous Conditions’ Anacapa Sciences Santa Barbara 1986
- Synthesis Group ‘America at the Threshold: Report of the Synthesis Group on America's Space Exploration Initiative’ Washington D.C 1991 98 103
- Statler I.C. Billings C.E. ‘Maintaining Human Productivity During Mars Transit’ paper presented at the 19th Intersociety Conference on Environmental Systems San Diego July 1989
- Woodward D. ‘ Countermeasures for the Effects of Prolonged Weightlessness in Case for Mars II McKay C.P. Univelt San Diego 1985 655 664
- Young J.F. ‘ Concrete and Other Cement Based Composites for Lunar Base Construction ’ in Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century Mendell W.W. Lunar and Planetary Institute Houston 1985 381 390