Abstract Future piloted missions to explore asteroids, Mars, and other targets beyond the Moon will experience strict limitations on communication between vehicles in space and control centers on Earth. These limitations will require crews to operate with greater autonomy than any past space mission has demonstrated. The Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) project, which regularly sends small teams of researchers to remote parts of the southern continent, resembles a space mission in many ways but does not rely upon a control center. It provides a useful crew autonomy model for planners of future deep space exploration missions. In contrast to current space missions, ANSMET gives the crew the authority to adjust competing work priorities, task assignments, and daily schedules; allows the crew to be the primary monitor of mission progress; demands greater crew accountability for operational errors; requires the crew to make the most of limited communication bandwidth; adopts systems designed for simple operation and failure recovery; and grants the crew a leading role in the selection and stowage of their equipment.
Highlights Future deep space exploration crews will have less reliance on mission control. Antarctic expeditions are like space exploration missions without a control center. Antarctic teams assign and schedule their own work and monitor their own progress. They choose, organize, operate, and repair their own equipment. These and other observations from Antarctica may guide plans for exploring deep space.
Crew autonomy for deep space exploration: Lessons from the Antarctic Search for Meteorites
Acta Astronautica ; 94 , 1 ; 83-92
2013-08-04
10 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
ANSMET , Antarctic Search for Meteorites , CDR , spacecraft crew commander , D/L , downlink , FD , Flight Director, the leader of the flight control team in the Mission Control Center , ISS , International Space Station , KB , kilobyte , LEO , low Earth orbit , Mars DRA 5.0 , NASA Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0 , NASA , National Aeronautics and Space Administration , NSF , National Science Foundation , PI , Principal Investigator , STS , Space Transportation System (Space Shuttle) , U/L , uplink , USAP , United States Antarctic Program. , Human space flight , Crew autonomy , Human exploration , Deep space exploration , Space flight analog , Antarctica
Crew autonomy for deep space exploration: Lessons from the Antarctic Search for Meteorites
Online Contents | 2014
|Antarctic Search for Meteorites
NTIS | 2016
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