Virtual prototyping of the lunar module landing system to improve cosmonauts’ spatial and situational awareness

Abstract

Relevance. The transition to manned flights after the launches of the automatic stations of the «Luna-Globus» series will require studying issues of the crew safety in lunar missions. First of all, it will be necessary to clarify the role and capabilities of cosmonauts when landing the lunar module in complicated conditions. The subject of the study is the means of modeling and visualizing the progress of the flight operation observed by the operator. The area of study is the issues of ensuring the safety of the automatic landing of the lunar descent module with the possibility of switching to manual control mode after a decision was made by a human to change the landing site of the lunar module. The provision of spatial and situational awareness is considered in this context as a prerequisite for the timely response of the operator to the occurrence of a non-standard situation. Objective. The goal of the work is to present the virtual prototyping of the Moon landing stage for studying details of information support for cosmonauts during the conditions of visual control complication. Methodology. The analysis of ways to maintain spatial and situational awareness for a timely assessment by the operator of the suitability of the predicted site in the landing area is a key condition for deciding whether to switch from automatic mode to manual mode. At the same time, the quality of preparation and decision-making in a short time frame significantly depends on the accepted methods of visualizing the landing on the surface of the Moon. Results and Discussion. The directions of application of modeling and visualization tools for virtual prototyping of the landing of the descent lunar module are formulated. It is shown that a person's decision-making in conditions of time scarcity and possible visual interference when monitoring the external environment requires special means of information support. The issues of organizing the visual environment in accordance with the information needs of a person are studied taking into account the prototypes in the classes of manned and unmanned vertical take-off and landing vehicles, for which similar types of operator activities are described. This made it possible to formulate basic approaches to modeling the landing of vehicles in conditions of problems with visual perceptions. Taking into account the increased requirements, we consider promising approaches based on the synthesis of 2D and 3D-visual dynamic scenes, as well as precedents for the use of synthetic vision systems in the described conditions. The scope of application of the obtained results is not limited to the tasks of designing complex human-technical systems, but may have applications in the field of building computer simulators for the training of cosmonauts. This practice compares favorably with the options for human training on hardware-in-the-loop simulation models and on real helicopter-type vehicles in terms of safety and flexibility of modification. Conclusion. The use of virtual prototyping of the moon landing makes it possible to expand the search for options for improving the cosmonaut's spatial and situational awareness. The general conclusion in the context of this goal pursuing is the feasibility of using simulation methods to build a virtual environment that recreates the conditions for a cosmonaut to make a decision in an emergency situation when landing a lunar module, as one of the most critical flight operations for the safety of lunar missions. Key words Lunar exploration, lunar lander, landing simulation and visualization, virtual activity environment, unmanned and manned vertical take-off and landing vehicles, spatial and situational awareness, synthetic vision systems.