NOTE: End date changed to 06/30/2025 per A. Beitman/NASA JSC (Ed., 2/14/25).

NOTE: End date changed to 02/28/2025 per L. Dang/NASA JSC (Ed., 8/5/24).

NOTE: Period of performance changed from initial award. Original start date: 11/17/2023. Original end date: 11/16/2024. New start and end dates changed per NSSC information (Ed., 2/4/2024).

AIMS of the proposed work are to identify areas of contention in scheduling or where communication concerning scheduling may not be effective, and provide recommendations for how scheduling, as well as other aspects of autonomy could be negotiated and managed in a communication or decision support tool.

A review of autonomy issues in space operations, supplemented by selective data on crew autonomy and scheduling from the NASA Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) and the NASA Scientific International Research In a Unique terrestrial Station (SIRIUS), will deliver: identification of problematic aspects of operational autonomy in space, with particular focus on Artemis; recommendations for how scheduling of tasks and activities can be negotiated, and best practices for managing shifting responsibilities; and definition of required features and parameters for a schedule negotiator technology function with feedback from selected subject matter experts.

SIGNIFICANCE of the proposed effort relates to its potential to facilitate collaboration and shared mental models among multi-team system members during Artemis and other long-term space operations. Successful scheduling negotiation is critical to mission success, and solutions will provide insight for other potentially disruptive autonomy elements.

A potential area of contention between autonomous space crews and ground support is the scheduling of tasks and activities. Crew self-scheduling will be an integral component of crew autonomy and can serve as a proxy for other autonomy concerns—it embodies characteristics that may undermine the accuracy of space-ground shared mental models, cause friction between space crews and ground, and negatively impact space-ground collaboration. AIMS of this effort, using crew self-scheduling as a proxy for issues and concerns associated with crew autonomy, are to: 1) identify areas of contention in scheduling or where communication concerning scheduling may not be effective; 2) provide recommendations for how scheduling in autonomous operations could be negotiated in the context of Artemis and other long-duration missions; and 3) propose human-centered design guidance for how this negotiation could be managed in a communication/decision support tool.

METHODS for this effort involve a multi-pronged approach including a review of autonomy issues in space operations, research on crew self-scheduling and literature relevant to the design of decision support for self-scheduling, interviews with autonomy researchers and NASA analog and operations personnel, and analyses of selective data on crew autonomy and scheduling from NASA analog missions.

During the past year, we identified relevant literature and created a database of categorized summaries of articles on autonomy, self-scheduling, multi-team systems, methodologies, and co-active/human-centered/ and ecological interface designs. These are helping us to define nuances and "trade spaces" of crew autonomy. We re-analyzed post-mission interviews with NASA analog crewmembers and ground support focusing on their understanding of crew autonomy and its implications for crew/ground collaboration. This provided insights into the meaning of autonomy and its motivating factors, crewmembers’ scheduling preferences, and the crew/Mission Control relationship under autonomy.

We also conducted preliminary analyses of data in analog studies where participants were able to self-schedule some activities and characterized the particular types of activities participants chose for spontaneous self-scheduling. These activities included most often Operational activities such as habitat maintenance, followed by Outreach, Science, Exercise, Surveys, and Personal Time activities such as meals or pre-sleep.

We are currently conducting interviews with autonomy "experts," such as researchers, analog participants, flight crew, and ground support to contribute their insights on crew autonomy issues. Our questions focus on what autonomy means to the different stakeholders in space operations, what operational changes it would require, the challenges associated with crew self-scheduling, and how tasks and activities such as self-scheduling would be managed and negotiated during the course of an autonomous mission.

SIGNIFICANCE of this effort relates to its potential to facilitate collaboration and shared mental models among space-ground team members during Artemis and other long-term autonomous space crew operations. Successful negotiation of task and activity scheduling is critical to mission success and solutions will provide insight for other potentially disruptive autonomy elements.

NOTE: Period of performance changed from initial award. Original start date: 11/17/2023. Original end date: 11/16/2024. New start and end dates changed per NSSC information (Ed., 2/4/2024).

AIMS of the proposed work are to identify areas of contention in scheduling or where communication concerning scheduling may not be effective, and provide recommendations for how scheduling, as well as other aspects of autonomy could be negotiated and managed in a communication or decision support tool.

A review of autonomy issues in space operations, supplemented by selective data on crew autonomy and scheduling from the NASA Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) and the NASA Scientific International Research In a Unique terrestrial Station (SIRIUS), will deliver: identification of problematic aspects of operational autonomy in space, with particular focus on Artemis; recommendations for how scheduling of tasks and activities can be negotiated, and best practices for managing shifting responsibilities; and definition of required features and parameters for a schedule negotiator technology function with feedback from selected subject matter experts.

SIGNIFICANCE of the proposed effort relates to its potential to facilitate collaboration and shared mental models among multi-team system members during Artemis and other long-term space operations. Successful scheduling negotiation is critical to mission success, and solutions will provide insight for other potentially disruptive autonomy elements.