Geologic Traverse Planning for Planetary EVA

We describe a process for planning planetary extravehicular activity (EVA) traverses. It enables predictive and parametric analysis of planned traverses, and would improve uncertainty management and real-time replanning of traverses by space-suited astronauts. Using a traverse from the Apollo 14 mission as a case study we show how the same traverse might have benefited from our new approach to EVA planning. Finally, we discuss operational implementation challenges based on our experiences in the development of digital tools for geologic mapping, and on past experimentation with the NASA class III ground suit.