Featured Article From the Vault

Understanding Skill in EVA Mass Handling:
Integrated Methodology for Evaluating Space Suit Mobility and Stability

P. Vernon McDonald, Gary E. Riccio, & Dava Newman

In four volumes between 1997 and 1999, NASA Technical Paper 3684 describes the activities performed in the completion of work funded under the NASA Research Announcement 93-OLMSA-07. The project, entitled "Environmental Constraints on Postural and Manual Control" was a 3-year project designed to promote a better understanding of the whole-body skill of extravehicular activity (EVA) mass handling.

The final report in the series, Volume IV, provides a summary of the work performed with a particular emphasis on the operational implications of the phenomena observed in our empirical investigation. The report is worth revisiting because NASA again is seriously considering human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit, including missions to the Moon, Asteroids, and Mars.

In the sixteen years since its publication, there have been a diversity of developments that are auspicious for the kind of work described in this volume. NASA has gained considerable experience with human health and performance in weightlessness in support of the International Space Station. Biometrics and personalized health monitoring is moving into the mainstream of many industry verticals and transforming them through the convergence of social, mobile, analytics, and cloud (SMAC). Cost, form factor, computational power, and availability of technology for  sensing and analytics are accelerating opportunities for the kinds of human-systems assessments described in this volume.

Moreover, exigencies of the Global War on Terror have resulted in leaps ahead in capabilities integration and development. There have been many lessons learned about how to utilize a diversity of methodologies concurrently and over nested time scales in continuous development of a system of systems including wearable computing and electronics. The multi-faceted approach described in this volume can build on these lessons learned. Finally, in the years since this NASA Technical Paper, Dava Newman has transformed our notions of what a space suit can be and, as a result, what is possible for human performance in space.

View the original Volume IV

 
 
 
Foundations for Understanding Human Performance in Weightlessness
An Integrated Methodology for Evaluating Space Suit Mobility and Stability
An Integrated Methodology for Evaluating Space Suit Mobility and Stability

The purpose of this phase of the project was to design an innovative system for evaluating space suit mobility and stability in conditions that simulate EVA on the surface of the Moon or Mars. While prior volumes in the series focus on novel data-analytic techniques, this volume addresses technology that is necessary for minimally intrusive data collection and near-real-time data analysis and display.

Characteristics of EVA Mass Handling Skill
Characteristics of EVA Mass Handling Skill

The operational validity of the ground-based investigation was improved by building a device that increased the degrees of freedom of extravehicular mobility unit motion on the Precision Air-Bearing Floor. The results revealed subtle patterns of interaction between motions of an orbital replacement unit mockup and mass handler that should be important for effective performance on orbit.

Empirical Investigation of EVA Mass Handling
Empirical Investigation of EVA Mass Handling

In this volume of the NASA Technical Paper, we describe the details of our empirical protocol for investigating skill in extravehicular mass handling using NASA's principal mass handling simulator, the precision air bearing floor. As a preface to the presentation of the empirical data in Volume III of this report series, a set of detailed hypotheses is presented.

Theoretical & Operational Foundations for EVA
Theoretical & Operational Foundations for EVA

This volume of NASA Technical Paper describes the theoretical and operational foundations for our analysis of skill in extravehicular mass handling. We describe our expectations regarding the operational relevance of the empirical results as it pertains to extravehicular activity tools, training, monitoring, and planning.

 
Foundations for Understanding Risks of Space Adaptation in Perception and Biomechanics
A Functional Visual Assessment Test for Human Health Maintenance and Countermeasures
A Functional Visual Assessment Test for Human Health Maintenance and Countermeasures

The third volume of the NASA Technical Paper applies our theoretical framework to the problem of eye-head-trunk coordination during walking or running. This informed design of the functional visual assessment test (FVAT) that provides a measure of visual “acuity” that is sensitive to changes in perceptual-motor coordination resulting from space adaptation.

Constraints on Crew Members During Space Vehicle Abort, Entry, and Landing
Constraints on Crew Members During Space Vehicle Abort, Entry, and Landing

The second volume of the NASA Technical Paper applies our theoretical framework for nested human-environment interactions to the problems of flight crew perception and performance during planned and potential aerodynamic maneuvers of space vehicles. The analysis can guide the development of flight deck displays and controls that increase robustness of the human-machine system.

Coordination of Postural Control and Vehicular Control
Coordination of Postural Control and Vehicular Control

This first volume of the NASA Technical Paper describes the theoretical and operational foundations for our analysis of multi-modal perception and multi-criterion control of nested biomechanical systems. While the approach generalizes to all forms of locomotion, the focus is on coordination of postural control and vehicular control during changes in the velocity vector that are unique to aircraft.

 
De-Fragmentation of Thought Leadership in Flight Simulation
Multimodal Perception and Simulation of Self Motion
Multimodal Perception and Simulation of Self Motion

The purpose of this chapter is to reveal the aspects of perception and action that are essential for simulating self motion in a virtual environment. While the discussion is couched in the particulars of flight simulation, it is emphasized that the design principles and strategies are not limited to flight simulation. To promote generality, self motion in real and virtual environments is discussed from the perspectives of ecological psychology and control theory.

New Approaches to Motion Cuing in Flight Simulators
New Approaches to Motion Cuing in Flight Simulators

A study was conducted to investigate new approaches in motion simulation. The study developed a conceptual model of pilot control of an aircraft. This model was subsequently used in a "need-based" analysis of motion cuing devices.

Temporal Fidelity in Flight Simulators
Temporal Fidelity in Flight Simulators

A multifaceted program of research and development was initiated at Wright-Patterson AFB in the 1980s to provide an unprecedented breadth of understanding of flight simulation. The resulting de-fragmentation of thought leadership from many sectors of the industry and across a wide variety of scientific disciplines was utilized in the design of a program specifically to address time delays in flight simulators.

Transdisciplinary Research Relevant to Flight Simulation
Transdisciplinary Research Relevant to Flight Simulation

This summary of relevant research is taken from reports produced for the U.S. Air Force and NASA during the 1990s as part of a multi-institutional and trans-disciplinary program of research to understand perception and control of motion that involves consequential changes in the velocity vector. The framework and associated taxonomy continues to be useful in expediting discovery of specific scientific research needed for expeditious problems solving in pilot training and simulator design.