Toward Better Understanding of Function Allocation Requirements for Planetary Eva and Habitat Tasks

Abstract

The authors participated in a Mars planetary science research analog that included simulated extravehicular activity (EVA) and intravehicular (IV) crewmembers with delayed communications with Earth. Within the analog context, the authors considered which information streams and sources were monitored by IV crewmembers throughout the simulated EVAs. The capabilities of IV crewmember monitoring were compared to information considered critical for the successful completion of EVA on Mars, suggesting gaps for improved human-automation function allocation. The authors’ findings support available literature that indicate that new mission architectures for planetary exploration mandate increased autonomy from Earth-based controllers. This autonomy will result in too many mission-critical data streams for the attentional capabilities of relatively small crew. Results of this work can inform further investigation into evolving concepts of mission operations that incorporate effective human-automation teaming to support dynamic function allocation for spaceflight exploration tasks.