RT-4: Crew Time¶
Summary. "Maximize crew time available for science and engineering activities within planned mission durations" (ADD Rev C, p. 83). ADD Rev C calls crew time for utilization "a critical driver for the Moon to Mars Architecture across all segments". It protects crew time through low-maintenance design, automation and tele-robotics, early training, and moving monitoring work to mission control. Its open question is whether the extra infrastructure of later segments will add or eat crew time. One of the nine recurring tenets.
All page numbers below are ADD Rev C, Section 3.5.4 (pp. 92–93).
The heading words the tenet differently: "Maximize crew time available for science, research, and technology development activities within planned mission duration" (p. 92), against "science and engineering activities" in the p. 83 table (open question 21).
The assessment¶
- "Maximizing crew time for utilization, separate from other allocations, such as maintenance, is a critical driver for the Moon to Mars Architecture across all segments of the campaign. This enables the architecture to address science, one of NASA's three pillars of exploration" (p. 92).
- "The lunar campaign segments emphasize crew exploration on the lunar surface. The architecture allocates functions in these segments to minimize maintenance and construction overhead activities. Concurrently, utilization activities at Gateway complement surface exploration activities" (p. 92).
- "NASA's experiences optimizing crew time at the Moon will guide the planning for initial Mars surface missions" (p. 92).
| Architecture/system capabilities (p. 92) | Integrated mission operations (pp. 92–93) |
|---|---|
| "Lunar campaign elements have limited time allocated for system maintenance, implemented via system reliability, sparing strategy, crew accessibility, ease of use, operational use, and other methods" | Crew training and full-team mission simulations start "approximately two years and one year before the crew launch, respectively" |
| Design includes "engineering, operations, and crew evaluations of vehicle mockups and simulations" | Training includes crew and ground teams in planning and decisions; "ground training applies a time multiplier for every hour of critical/complex mission execution" |
| "Campaign elements incorporate automation/autonomy for routine housekeeping and system management, with explicit allocation of FM functions (onboard autonomy, ground, crew) and documented time-to-criticality requirements" | At the Moon, moving monitor and control functions "from crew to the MCC enables more crew time". At Mars, time-critical responses go to "essentially co-located assets (e.g., surface autonomy/crew or crew remaining on transit vehicle)" and non-time-critical ones to mission control |
| "The architecture uses tele-robotics, robotic assistance, and autonomous systems to increase crew time and effectiveness for science and utilization (e.g., pre-positioning assets with uncrewed operations)" | |
| "Missions include contingency plans and capabilities, including backup crew" | |
| Task lists and alternate plans to "pivot from the nominal plan" (e.g., "pursuing get-ahead tasks") |
Future considerations¶
"While the increases in exploration infrastructure and capabilities in the Foundational Exploration, Sustained Lunar Evolution, and Humans to Mars segments are intended to increase available crew time, there is some uncertainty associated with the operational complexity, maintenance, and refurbishment demands they bring. NASA will need to further assess the relationship between expanded capabilities and crew time to utilization to inform system design and operational planning" (p. 93).
Related pages¶
Technology gaps on the same subjects. The ADD doesn't link them; the pairing is the wiki's: #1005 Safe Human-Robot Interaction and Teaming and #0501 Robotic Inspection, Maintenance, and Repair (robotic assistance); #1004 Trustworthy Autonomy and #1002 Autonomous Monitoring (automation of housekeeping).
Recurring tenets · RT-5 Maintainability and Reuse (the two tenets share the maintenance theme, and RT-7 names both as goals of common displays, p. 100) · RT-3 Crew Return · Autonomous Systems and Robotics
Sources¶
ADD Rev C, pp. 83, 92–93, 100