Air Transport

NASA Ames Research Center is testing autonomy software for exploration spacecraft in the Utah desert. The software can alert the crew to technical problems, give advice on their resolution, and keep track of planned activity. The tests are being carried out at the Mars Society’s desert research station, an analogue of a Mars habitat module, based near Hanksville, Utah.

The Ames researchers have set up equipment in and around the research station, which is representing a spaceship in flight and a habitat on the Moon. “Team members will use voice-commanded mission control communication services that partly automate the role of capsule communicator personnel, who monitor and advise astronauts,” says NASA.

Nine researchers will complete the software testing on 7 May, having begun on 23 April. They are evaluating software agents that can monitor electrical and other systems and give procedural advice, to learn how the computer systems help or hinder the crew’s response.