Tag: AMO

 By Lauren Rush, mission planner for AMO, space station and space shuttle

 A couple weeks ago, the AMO (Autonomous Mission Operations) team completed our first set of experiment runs. In order to decrease external variability and to get the best data from the runs, the crew executed the same mission timeline for each run. Doing this allows the researchers and data collectors to form relationships between the data collected and the different time delay scenarios which were tested. When the timeline is the same for each run, that takes one variable out of the equation and helps the researchers know that a varying timeline of activities is not impacting any of the data collected in the experiment. Dang, I feel like a scientist writing all of that!

This timeline was a 2 hour mix of activities meant to represent a quiescent period in the Deep Space Habitat (DSH). In space language, quiescent basically means there’s no dynamic (another space term) operations happening like robotics, dockings, or space walks. Quiescent operations for the AMO project is when the space habitat is happily floating along, returning to Earth from some cool asteroid. The astronauts are performing general maintenance and housekeeping tasks and are doing normal things that we here on planet Earth do, like exercising and looking for misplaced objects in their habitat. I hope that gives you a good picture of what the crew is doing.

On the ground, in the control center, the planner (a flight control position which we have lovingly named Kali – in Hindu, known as the goddess of time and change) keeps track of the crew’s progress through the timeline. Kali also works to deconflict any issues with the orchestration of the crew completing all their scheduled tasks and also replans future days based on the current day’s activities. We use a new scheduling tool called Score. And surprisingly enough, Score is not an acronym for anything… Some of you know we use lots of acronyms around here at NASA.

Score was developed by Ames Research Center (ARC) for planning use on International Space Station and future exploration programs. Score leverages the scheduling capabilities created by ARC and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for missions such as the Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity), Phoenix Lander and the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. The JPL and ARC development teams have created an “Ensemble Suite” of software (plug-in tools), based off of the open source Ensemble Integrated Development Environment (IDE), that can be added to/removed from the core planning software. This allows new functions and capabilities to be added to Score so that it can be used to support other missions, such as NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO), Desert Research And Technology Studies (RATS) and Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP) analog missions. The AMO team uses Score to support our research missions by providing a visual representation of the mission in order to keep the flight control team focused on the current day’s tasks. Since the communication with the crew can be delayed up to 5 minutes each way, it is important for the team to have awareness of what the crew is completing on board, especially if some of those tasks require coordination with the flight control team. The capabilities of Score will allow the team to easily identify relationships between the ground flight controllers and the onboard crew and the impact of unexpected schedule delays, and communication delays while maintaining mission cognizance.

This week we’re having our mitigation runs, where we participate in more experiment runs and use some the new techology to mitigate the communications delays we experienced in our first set of experiment runs. Follow the AMO mission on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nasa.amo for more information.

By Autonomous Mission Control Crew B Commander Rex Walheim
June 13, 2012 – Run #1
Time Delay: 5 Seconds

Things are going smoothly onboard.  We are operating with a 5 sec time delay, which doesn’t impact ops much.  We are coming up to speed on our new tools.  Web PD is helpful in running the procedures.  No failures yet today, so we haven’t had a chance to use the Automated Caution and Warning System.  I am sure that will come. 

June 13, 2012 – Run #2

Time Delay: 300 seconds (5 minutes)

We have a 5-minute time delay.  Pidgin chat helps a lot to deal with the delay, but the time delay gets tricky when there are malfunctions.  Crew continues to get along well.  However, without much voice comm, it is harder to keep tabs on what the rest of the crew is doing.
Flat Skynyrd* spotted by Jason outside habitat during survey.  I last spotted him on flight deck of Atlantis on STS-122.  I guess he wanted to go EVA this time.  Sing with me….”Sweet home Ala’cabot”**
Rex Out!

June 13, 2012 – Run #3

Time Delay 50 seconds

One of our flight engineers has a simulated medical  issue.   Hope it is not the food.  We could all be going down then.  We are a long way from home.  Too late to turn around.  Try not to think bad thoughts.  Get a hold of yourself man!  HAL says everything is under control.  Not sure if we can believe a computer.  What could possibly go wrong?  What was that noise?  WHAT WAS THAT NOISE?

Follow the Autonomous Mission Operations tests via Facebook at www.facebook.com/nasa.amo.  

* Walheim references “Flat Skynyrd,” which is the Guidance and Navigation Control console’s mascot. A little fact: Rex Walheim flew Flat on his shuttle mission to the space station (STS-122).

** For the AMO mission, the Deep Space Habitat has been re-dubbed Cabot.

* Editor’s Note: Normally we have the Autonomous Mission Operation commander for the day post a blog, but two simulated medical emergencies kept the crew busy today. So, instead, we have an entry from Victor Hurst. Victor is a research scientist in space medicine at Johnson Space Center, as well as the AMO ultrasound guinea pig — whenever there’s a simulated medical emergency, he plays the indisposed patient, on whom the Crew Medical Officer performs an ultrasound.

By Victor Hurst, space medicine research scientist

When you are not feeling well, you usually hop into a car or some other earth-based vehicle and take yourself to the doctor, right?  Astronauts taking part in an exploration class space mission far away from this planet cannot do that.

The exploration of space has been limited to low earth orbit since man last walked on the moon in December 1972.  As this country plans to re-start its exploration of space, perhaps past the moon, the space program must prepare its astronaut crews to manage medical events, both planned and unplanned, during their missions.  Why? Maintenance of crew health is paramount towards maximizing human performance and, subsequently, mission success.  To do so, the program needs to develop a specific level of medical capability that will fulfill this need.

In order to understand the capability that is needed to maintain and treat crew members during exploration class space missions, the Autonomous Mission Operation (AMO) within the Deep Space Habitat (DSH) here at the NASA-Johnson Space Center (JSC) allows us to take an initial look on treating medical conditions relevant to exploration space flight.  In doing these tests, we can identify what equipment and procedures are needed for such missions.  More importantly, we can determine what level of training is needed in order for crew to autonomously manage their medical issues without seriously impacting the tasks needed to complete their mission.

Crew Medical Officers (CMO) are astronauts that are trained to be the medical caregivers for crew during each mission.  Since only about 10% of the astronaut corps are formally trained physicians, we need to develop specialized training and clinical tools that will enable non-physician CMOs (i.e. laymen) to properly manage medical events during these types of missions.  Some folks let us know, “Hey, why don’t you just fly a doctor like Bones McCoy on the 1960s TV show Star Trek?”  That’s a great idea but what happens if it is the doctor who becomes ill?  Because of this possibility, the emphasis is to provide training, procedures, equipment and other resources to CMOs who are not formally-trained clinicians in order for them to properly manage medical events in the absence of doctor.

The AMO Tests within the DSH are enabling NASA Space Medicine to identify techniques and technology that will help CMOs maintain crew health and optimize crew performance for exploration class space missions.  These tests also enable NASA to use innovation to expand the standard of medical care for not only these types of missions but also for all us down here on this planet.

Follow the Autonomous Mission Operations tests via Facebook at www.facebook.com/nasa.amo.

By Autonomous Mission Control Crew D Commander Anna Fisher
May 18, 2012 – Run #3
Busy day onboard Cabot. Can’t wait to get home and take a hot shower!
GMT 17:10 Our day is off to a good start. 5 min time delay is a bummer.
GMT 21:14 Minor problem with the atrium flow but worked the mal and able to proceed.
GMT 20:06 Life onboard is good. Will have to do a 28v R&R in the future.

Mission Managers Test Wrap Up
By Megan Rosenbaum, Analog Technical Lead

Overall the test has been going really well. Many of the crew and flight controllers have expressed the same sentiments in terms of their feelings on communicating over a comm. delay. Communication does become more difficult with failures and when you need more interaction between the ground and crew, but it does not hinder their ability to work through the issues. Both sides have adapted quickly to what each more significant delay brings to the table, but overall the crew and ground are handling the delay very well.

The current baseline runs mostly incorporated current ISS operational concepts and the overall approach to this first test could be best summarized with the following statement.-MCC has the “expertise” and leads operations as it does today. Although we know we would do things differently for long time delay, the point of this is to figure out at what time delay which things break and why.

During the runs in June, the following things will be added to the overall test:

– We will use an Automated Caution and Warning System (ACAWS) to help troubleshoot system failures. The Crew will also have ACAWS during the runs which will better equip them and give them the ‘expertise’ to deal with failures.- The runs will add chat (instant messaging) capability to compliment traditional Air-to-Ground voice calls.- We will also have a new procedure viewer which will allow the ground to see where the crew is in each step of the procedure that they are executing. The new web-based Procedure Display is called WebPD.-The crew will also have planning tools (Desktop SCORE) in the mitigation runs for self scheduling as desired.

Hope to see you back here in June!

Today marked the first day of the first run of a new analog mission at NASA:  Autonomous Mission Operations. The Autonomous Mission Operations – or AMO – tests look at the capability of a crewed spacecraft to plan and fly a mission with minimum support from ground.  As human exploration moves farther and farther away from Earth, the constant communication we currently enjoy with the crew of the International Space Station will become impossible. Communication from Earth to the crew will take longer and longer to reach its destination – and the same will be true of the answers the crew sends back.

The communications delays that astronauts would experience on the way to a Lagrange Point, asteroid, Mars or other distant destinations will make it necessary to change the capabilities of spacecraft, change the roles and responsibilities of ground and crew and the ways that ground and crew interact during the mission.  The purpose of the AMO project is to define what some of those changes might be.

To do so, AMO will run two series of tests this summer. The first is taking place May 15-18, and the second June 12-17. During those time frames, four different crews made up of one astronaut commander and several space shuttle or International Space Station flight controllers acting as flight engineers will run three, two-hour mission scenarios a day. Working inside the Habitat Demonstration Unit (which has been dubbed Cabot for the AMO tests) at Johnson Space Center, the crews will take turns working through the same timelines under three different simulated time delays: 1.2 seconds (what we’d experience at the second Lagrange Point), 50 seconds (the communication delay for an asteroid), and five minutes (how long it takes to say hello to Mars).

As part of the simulation, the commanders of the four crews will send blog updates throughout the course of the mission. Today’s blogger and commander (of crew A) is astronaut Rex Walheim.

15 May, Rex Walheim, Entry 1:
Crew is in good health and good spirits.  Today we are working IRED Cleaning, water transfer, filter changeout and camera surveys.  We are working a little slowly as we get acclimated to the habitat.  MCC is treating us well.  Food is good. 

15 May, Rex Walheim, Entry 2:
I was tasked with finding the ovoid.  There was a slight mutiny onboard as the other crewmembers found out what this task was and decided they wanted to be involved in this Easter egg hunt as described in the Limerick below:

There once was a crew on the Cabot
That searched for the egg of a rabbit
Inside was a sweet
Just one tiny treat 
So whoever first found it would grab it

(Mission Manager’s Note:  Stowage and Inventory on the space station is something that the crew and ground consistently monitor and manage.  In spaceflight, staying organized and keeping the proper items in stock is critical. Occasionally, we find that items have gone missing or have been tucked in a location that wasn’t accurately recorded.  To simulate this for AMO, we have a “MISSING-ITEM-SEARCH” scheduled. The crew is looking for a piece of Environmental and Life Support “equipment” that had been noted as MIA.  In reality, the missing “equipment” was a plastic egg filled with candy that we hid somewhere inside the Deep Space Habitat. We called it an ovoid canister.  The crew reports when/if they find the missing item and the stowage location to the Mission Control Center.  It’s a fun task, but mimics a real-life scenario.)

15 May, Rex Walheim, Entry 3:
Crew feeling well.  Procedures going well.  Almost feels like we have been here before.  50 second time delay in both directions.   It is about on the borderline where you can either press on autonomously, or wait for the ground to tell you what to do during an off nominal situation.

Ovoid found and consumed!

Follow along with the AMO tests via Facebook at www.facebook.com/nasa.amo.

By Autonomous Mission Operations Crew C Commander Alvin Drew
May 17, 2012 – Run #1 – 50-second time delay (one way)
Busy morning so far for this “quiescent” phase of the mission.  Looks like we’ve beat up our equipment here – failed hard drives, worn out parts for the weightlifting machine and scuffed paint on the exterior of the hygiene module – nothing critical though. One day MCC will answer me immediately after I talk to them and it’s bound to startle me.

May 17,2012 – Run #2 – 5-minute time delay (one way)
About 60 million miles from Earth – 5 minutes time delay each way – I’d hate to pay those long distance charges.

May 17, 2012 – Run #3 – 50-second time delay (one way)
About 10 million miles from Earth – I can just barely pick out my house from here.

May 16, 2012 – Test Day #2
By Todd Quasny, AMO Crew B Flight Engineer 3 (and real life MCC Flight Controller)
Today has been a very challenging day.  We have performed a total of three runs in which we perform routine activities that would need to be performed if we were on a long duration spaceflight. These activities include cleaning and replacing air filters, transferring water to our plants so they can grow into food, as well as performing a camera inspection of our space vehicle to make sure there is no damage to the outside.

For each run through of our activities, there is a delay in communications between us and Earth that is representative of what it would be like if we were conducting a mission to an asteroid or even Mars. This creates quite a challenge to perform even the most routine activities and it takes a lot of work and even some creativity to get everything done.

During our second run of the day, one of the crew members simulated getting sick. As Crew Medical Officer (CMO), it was my job to treat the crew member in coordination with the ground. Since we had a 5 minute communications delay at the time (so 10 minutes round trip), talking to medical professionals on the ground and consulting on the best course of action was a daunting task to say the least.  I was required to setup our ultrasound machine to take images to be analyzed by the people on the ground. Not being medically trained myself, this was really exciting to me! The capabilities that we have to handle so many diverse situations during spaceflight, both planned and unplanned, is so very cool!

May 16 – Test Day #2
By AMO Crew B Commander Lee Morin
Several malfunctions today with time delay to MCC of 50 seconds each way. A little easier than 300 seconds so I guess we are getting closer to Earth!

Had a problem with the water transfer, flow rate was too high so shut it off since a too-fast flow rate can damage the plumbing. Worked the issue with MCC and got the required 90% of the water transferred by using the backup plumbing and backup procedures.

Also had a problem with a power converter that created a flood of error messages when it failed. Narrowed the problem down to the 28V converter.  Power-cycling did not correct the problem. We will perform a Repair and Replace tomorrow.

With all the MALs I got behind and FE2 helped me out with the soil pH tasks.

In the earlier run we had a medical emergency, FE3 performed a medical ultrasound for abdominal pain on FE1. This put us way behind but fortunately FE1 recovered for the next run.

Runs 1 and 2 were both involving 300 seconds of delay, the delay to Mars when Mars is at its closest. It is very difficult to coordinate with MCC with such a long delay, and not have wasted time. Often you have to decide whether to press on and just tell MCC what you are intending, or to wait for them to tell you what to do.

Today we also had two educational events, one with just the commander and one with the whole crew. The audience had pretty good questions.

This has been very interesting and the habitat really does create a spaceflight-like experience.

Follow along in the AMO mission on Facebook: www.facebook.com/nasa.amo.

By Jeremy Frank, Autonomous Mission Operations Project Lead