Human Systems Integration Division @ NASA Ames

Long duration human space missions, as planned in the newest vision of space exploration, will not be possible without applying unprecedented levels of automation to support the human endeavors. The automated and robotic systems must carry the load of routine “housekeeping” for the new generation of explorers, as well as assist their exploration science and engineering work with new precision. Fortunately, the state of automated and robotic systems is sophisticated and sturdy enough to do this work – but the systems themselves have never been human-rated as all other NASA physical systems used in human space flight have.

This paper will provide perspective on requirements and architecture for the interfaces and interactions between human beings and the astonishing array of automated systems; and the approach we believe necessary to create human-rated systems and implement them in the space program. The paper explains a proposed structure of criteria for automated and robotic systems, and the process by which those criteria should be evaluated and implemented as an addition to NASA’s Human Rating requirements, through a specially proposed project that will integrate Human Factors Engineering, Intelligent Systems, and many other disciplines.

The work described and proposed in this paper is based on real-world experience with both human system and robotic system designs; for surface operations as well as for in-flight monitoring and control; and on the necessities discovered for human-systems integration by members of NASA’s robotic and human space flight programs. We hope this presentation will be an invitation to dialog, and to consideration of a new issue facing new generations of explorers and their outfitters.