Paper Session III-A - Human Exploration Initiative

Reliable access to space through the use of a mixed fleet of launch vehicles, including the Space Transportation System (STS) and other existing and new systems, will be needed to provide the capability to accommodate the major new initiative for the Human Exploration (HEI) Program. The operational Space Station Freedom (SSF) will be established as a transportation node for Lunar and planetary missions and will required the Shuttle-C for assembly and implementation. The proposed Lunar mission schedule beginning in 1999 will also require a heavy lift launch vehicle (HLLV) capability in the class of the Shuttle- C. The large payloads and associated quantities of propellent needed for the establishment and maintenance of Lunar and Mars outposts will require a heavy-lift launch capability not now available to the United States with existing Earth-to-orbit transportation systems,. This augmented mixed fleet of launch vehicles will require extensive expansion and modification in the vehicle and payload launch processing operations, to meet current commitments and to accomplish this bold new initiative. This paper will provide an update of the planning for the Human Exploration Initiative announced by President Bush on July 20, 1989. It will review the activity that has transpired during the period following this announcement and will discuss the various options in mission design, proposed launch vehicles and program phasing under consideration, with special emphasis on the planning for the ground processing capabilities required at the Kennedy Space Center

Human Centered Autonomous and Assistant Systems Testbed for Exploration Operations

The Engineering and Mission Operations Directorates at NASA Johnson Space Center are combining laboratories and expertise to establish the Human Centered Autonomous and Assistant Systems Testbed for Exploration Operations. This is a testbed for human centered design, development and evaluation of intelligent autonomous and assistant systems that will be needed for human exploration and development of space. This project will improve human-centered analysis, design and evaluation methods for developing intelligent software. This software will support human-machine cognitive and collaborative activities in future interplanetary work environments where distributed computer and human agents cooperate. We are developing and evaluating prototype intelligent systems for distributed multi-agent mixed-initiative operations. The primary target domain is control of life support systems in a planetary base. Technical approaches will be evaluated for use during extended manned tests in the target domain, the Bioregenerative Advanced Life Support Systems Test Complex (BIO-Plex). A spinoff target domain is the International Space Station (ISS) Mission Control Center (MCC). Prodl}cts of this project include human-centered intelligent software technology, innovative human interface designs, and human-centered software development processes, methods and products. The testbed uses adjustable autonomy software and life support systems simulation models from the Adjustable Autonomy Testbed, to represent operations on the remote planet. Ground operations prototypes and concepts will be evaluated in the Exploration Planning and Operations Center (ExPOC) and Jupiter Facility

Plan validation and mixed-initiative planning in space operations

Bringing artificial intelligence planning and scheduling applications into the real world is a hard task that is receiving more attention every day by researchers and practitioners from many fields. In many cases, it requires the integration of several underlying techniques like planning, scheduling, constraint satisfaction, mixed-initiative planning and scheduling, temporal reasoning, knowledge representation, formal models and languages, and technological issues. Most papers included in this book are clear examples on how to integrate several of these techniques. Furthermore, the book also covers many interesting approaches in application areas ranging from industrial job shop to electronic tourism, environmental problems, virtual teaching or space missions. This book also provides powerful techniques that allow to build fully deployable applications to solve real problems and an updated review of many of the most interesting areas of application of these technologies, showing how powerful these technologies are to overcome the expresiveness and efficiency problems of real world problems

On-board timeline validation and repair : a feasibility study

We report on the progress and outcome of a recent ESAfunded project (MMOPS) designed to explore the feasibility of on-board reasoning about payload timelines. The project sought to examine the role of on-board timeline reasoning and the operational context into which it would fit. We framed a specification for an on-board service that fits with existing practices and represents a plausible advance within sensible constraints on the progress of operations planning. We have implemented a prototype to demonstrate the feasibility of such a system and have used it to show how science gathering operations might be improved by its deployment

Cargo launch vehicles to low earth orbit

There are two primary space transportation capabilities required to support both base programs and expanded mission requirements: earth-to-orbit (ETO) transportation systems and space transfer vehicle systems. Existing and new ETO vehicles required to support mission requirements, and planned robotic missions, along with currently planned ETO vehicles are provided. Lunar outposts, Mars' outposts, base and expanded model, ETO vehicles, advanced avionics technologies, expert systems, network architecture and operations systems, and technology transfer are discussed

VAL : automatic plan validation, continuous effects and mixed initiative planning using PDDL

This paper describes aspects of our plan validation tool, VAL. The tool was initially developed to support the 3rd International Planning Competition, but has subsequently been extended in order to exploit its capabilities in plan validation and development. In particular, the tool has been extended to include advanced features of PDDL2.1 which have proved important in mixed-initiative planning in a space operations project. Amongst these features, treatment of continuous effects is the most significant, with important effects on the semantic interpretation of plans. The tool has also been extended to keep abreast of developments in PDDL, providing critical support to participants and organisers of the 4th IPC

Mixed Initiative Systems for Human-Swarm Interaction: Opportunities and Challenges

Human-swarm interaction (HSI) involves a number of human factors impacting human behaviour throughout the interaction. As the technologies used within HSI advance, it is more tempting to increase the level of swarm autonomy within the interaction to reduce the workload on humans. Yet, the prospective negative effects of high levels of autonomy on human situational awareness can hinder this process. Flexible autonomy aims at trading-off these effects by changing the level of autonomy within the interaction when required; with mixed-initiatives combining human preferences and automation's recommendations to select an appropriate level of autonomy at a certain point of time. However, the effective implementation of mixed-initiative systems raises fundamental questions on how to combine human preferences and automation recommendations, how to realise the selected level of autonomy, and what the future impacts on the cognitive states of a human are. We explore open challenges that hamper the process of developing effective flexible autonomy. We then highlight the potential benefits of using system modelling techniques in HSI by illustrating how they provide HSI designers with an opportunity to evaluate different strategies for assessing the state of the mission and for adapting the level of autonomy within the interaction to maximise mission success metrics.Comment: Author version, accepted at the 2018 IEEE Annual Systems Modelling Conference, Canberra, Australi

UniverCity Connections: Report From the Stakeholders

Outlines the development, vision, and community initiatives of UniverCity Connections, a collaboration between Colorado State University, Fort Collins, and others convened by the foundation. Describes the task groups' focus areas, goals, and strategies

Trinity Restoration Inc.: Southside Cultural Center Economic Impact Study

Economic development has shifted from location-oriented business models towards a more all-encompassing model that recognizes the advancement of human capital or intellectual property as continuously increasing in value. This microcosmic characteristic of development extends to aid in the growth of society as a whole. The Arts and Culture attract a demographic of inspired and motivated people to the area. It results in the development of the society surrounding art venues. The general population will always seek out entertainment, by installing a venue of artistic expression in South Providence that will motivate the community and propel development. This phenomena has been proven, as denoted through the historical evaluation of artistic venues across America that have generated economic growth in their respective communities