Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Apollo on the Moon and Preparing the Human Exploration of Mars !

The ASRO project is a joint NASA Ames Research Center and Johnson Space Center project. The ASRO project, namely the Astronaut-Rover interaction, is our way to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Apollo on the Moon and to prepare for the next step: Mars ! It is the first time ever than an astronaut and a rover will explore a planetary surface together. Former experiments focused either on rover testing (for more information (visit the Intelligent Mechanisms Group web page) or EVA suits alone. The last EVA suit experiment performed by the group led by Joseph J. Kosmo at Johnson Space Center took place in May 1998 at Meteor Crater, Arizona (see the photographs) and provided important information to prepare the ASRO project. We listed here the names and institutions of people who contributed to the realization of this project.

The first ASRO experiment will take place in february 1999, in Silver Lake, CA. The site has been selected because it gathers many criteria that makes it resemble priority candidate landing sites for Mars. During this experiment, we will simulate the exploration of a Martian Landing site by a Human crew interacting with a rover by:

training astronaut crew members and automated vehicle operators in mission configuration
testing procedures and investigation strategies for an astronaut-rover team
identifying the various categories of automated vehicles that will be required to undertake the human exploration of Mars.

Silver Lake 1999 ASRO Experiment

The objective of this experiment is to study the interaction between rovers and astronauts in the field in planetary surface missions. Previous rover tests (Marsokhod and Nomad) focused on the rover being controlled by a remote science team. However, the question of the astronaut and the rover as a complementary and interactive team in the field has still to be documented, and has never before been tested in the field, although it is a critical element to assess from the perspective of the manned exploration of the Solar System.

Overall Goal and Objectives

Important issues have yet to be addressed before landing human crews at the surface of Mars. The ASRO Experiment proposes to:

Identify the operational domains where Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) suited astronauts and rovers are complementary and can interact, thus are more likely to collaborate in a safe, productive and cost-effective way for the surface exploration mission.
Develop operational procedures for the astronaut-rover team in the identified domains.
Test these procedures in mission scenarios during the Mojave field experiment.
Develop strategies of human crew exploration using remote, and in situ controled vehicles (rover and airplane).
Identify requirements and recommendations for advanced spacesuits and rovers that facilitate their cooperative and complementary interaction.

Operation Description

Since it is probable that the first human landing site will be in a site previously explored and documented by automated missions, the experiment site in the Mojave Desert (Silver Lake, Ca) has been selected for its similarities with martian high priority candidate-landing sites for the 2001-2007 missions. It provides realistic conditions to test the astronaut-rover interaction. Our goal there: to test mission exploration strategies and to quantify what can be done in such mission confguration.

Procedures and Exploration Strategies

The following scenarios describe the four interactive situations between the astronaut and the rover tested during the ASRO operation.

Scenario No.1. Marsokhod Rover as a Scout
Prior to the EVA crew member beginning the surface EVA, the rover pre-examines the traverse area and estab-lishes projective favorable sites for science exploration (geology and biology), and for setting stations for the suited astronaut to conduct work in.
Scenario No.2: Marsokhod Rover as Video Coverage Assistant
The Rover is used to provide video coverage of the suited astronaut activity in the field. This task was performed by the second crew member and by ground flight controllers teleop-erating the rover cameras during the Apollo missions. During this test, MarsokhodÕs video cameras are teleoperated to provide video coverage of the suited astronaut deploying mockup science package modules near the landing site.
Scenario No.3: Marsokhod Rover as Science Field Assistant
. (a) The astronaut explores a traverse visible from the land-ing site. When the suited astronaut spots an area of interest, he places a colored flag to show that the site (a particular rock, or outcrop) needs to be documented. While the rover operator sends the rover to the designated areas, the suited astronaut continues his traverse and put additional flags on more sites that the rover will have to reach and document.

Flag Color Code:
Red: Complete Imagery of Site, including partial panorama, stereo imaging for topographic setting, spectroscopy, and close-up imagery
Green: Close-up only and spectroscopy
Blue: Collect Samples
Black: Potential Traverse Hazard (e.g. steep slope, ravine, trough)

(b) Same scenario, but the work site areas are out of sight from the landing site The suited astronaut transmits the Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates to the lander, marks the site, and continues to other potential site locations.
Scenario No.4: Marsokhod Rover as Technical Field Assistant
The rover is used to assist the suited astronaut by carrying geology samples and EVA tools. The astronaut can also use the capabilities onboard Marsokhod (all ranges of imagery, spectrometer, arm) to document the selected site(s). The suited astronaut can put the samples in a sample container placed on Marsokhod. When required, the rover can be sent back to the lander to bring back equipment and samples. An alternate scenario is to have the astronaut exploring in a dis-covery mode with very light equipment (only a rock hammer and hand lens). The discovery of interesting rocks leads to their marking by a flag, and/or sending the GPS position to the landing site. While he is continuing his exploration, the rover is sent to collect the samples.

Astronaut-Rover Communication Systems

A communication network provides simplex and duplex communication and data loops for voice, video, and data:

NASA Ames Research Center (IMG) - Voice loop to EVA astronaut and Science Center, data loop for teleoperation of rover, receive data from rover, receive video from rover and EVA astronaut;

Science Operation Center - Voice to IMG Operations, video from rover and EVA astronaut;

EVA Crewmember - Voice loop to IMG Operation Center, transmit video to IMG Operation Center;

Marsokhod rover - Transmit video and data to IMG Operation Center, receive data for its teleoperation from the IMG Operation Center.

Justification and Perspective

The outcome of the scenarios proposed by the first ASRO field experiment is to provide the necessary information to develop new field operational procedures and interfaces, and provide guidance to generate mission-adapted designs both for teleoperated vehicles and adavanced spacesuits.
By reviewing the advanced spacesuit requirements and identifying the interfaces to surface rovers, advanced EVA spacesuit and rover designers and planners can be better pre-pared to develop outstanding designs for traversing and working on the surfaces of the Moon and Mars.
The ASRO project is a step forward in the development of technologies, interfaces, and procedures that will signifi-cantly improve the safety, performance, and productovity of human surface operation and reduce the cost of human planetary missions by optimizing the interface between Hu-mans and autonomous and teleoperated vehicles.
In addition, anything a robot can do that helps off-load mass from the EVA suit or that an astronaut must carry over long distances or that reduced the risks of EVA operations is important to develop.

Conclusion

Future mission planning for human exploration mission is based on the Surface Reference Mission. EVA crewmembers and rovers will have a significant role in performing the many surface tasks identified in this reference mission. The ASRO project will provide the early assessment of EVA crewmembers and rover interaction to support decisions in the surface reference mission development. The result of the ASRO experiment will be presented at the 30th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston (TX) in March 1999. To obtain information about this conference and know more about the Lunar and Planetary Institute we invite you to visit the LPI web site. Also, if you want to learn more about current projects concerning EVA, go to Current Projects and then, go to Avanced EVA Research and Development.