Application of an Operations Simulation Program, OpSim, to Space Station Life Science mission Planning

871523

08/01/1987

Event
Intersociety Conference on Environmental Systems
Authors Abstract
Content
The Space Station Projects Office (SSPO) at NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC) is responsible for operational plans for plant and animal research in the Life Sciences Research Facility (LSRF) aboard the Space Station. As a planning database, the SSPO uses scientists' descriptions of experiment operations, configured into scenarios for typical 90-day missions. Both research tasks and tasks involving specimen care and housekeeping are included. Four of these scenarios were used to test a computer program named OpSim, developed by the ARC Space Human Factors Office specifically to simulate Space Station operations. The tasks for each scenario were set up for inputting to OpSim, simulations were executed and program output was analyzed. Some scenarios were simulated more than once, at different levels of crew time availability and of laboratory automation. The test showed that OpSim gives an informative picture of mission operations, and that it responds appropriately to changes in variables such as crew availability and automation. OpSim should become widely used to model Space Station operations and develop realistic plans.
Meta TagsDetails
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/871523
Pages
12
Citation
Bosley, J., and Vogelsong, K., "Application of an Operations Simulation Program, OpSim, to Space Station Life Science mission Planning," SAE Technical Paper 871523, 1987, https://doi.org/10.4271/871523.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Aug 1, 1987
Product Code
871523
Content Type
Technical Paper
Language
English