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Schedule and Planning Interface for Exploration (SPIFe)

Mission Statement

The Schedule and Planning Interface for Exploration (SPIFe) team is one of three teams housed within the Human-Computer Interaction Group at NASA Ames Research Center. The team designs, develops, and deploys software tools dedicated to meeting the operational challenges of NASA’s human and robotic space missions. The SPIFe team has over a decade of experience developing a variety of tools that have supported various NASA missions and programs, including: International Space Station (ISS), Lunar Atmosphere Dust and Environment Explorer (LADEE), Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), Mars Phoenix Lander, MSL Curiosity, Mars 2020 Perseverance, and numerous spaceflight analogs. The team works closely with the various divisions within NASA Ames, as well as through cross-center collaboration efforts with other NASA centers, such as Johnson Space Center (JSC) and Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL).

NASA Playbook in use during a NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) study (NEEMO-19)
NASA Playbook in use during a NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) study (NEEMO-19)
Credit- NASA

Playbook

Playbook is the SPIFe team’s current software platform to support the next generation of planning, scheduling, and execution tools for space exploration. Timeline scheduling includes ability to model activities, resources, and constraints as well as supports violation checking and resolution. Execution capabilities include procedure integration, tracking status of activities, and multimedia communication.  Playbook for Spaceflight Analogs is mobile-ready and enables analog crew members to create, manipulate, and execute mission timelines. The timeline displays the scheduled activities for all crew members on any given day in a mission, but is unique when compared to other schedule viewers currently in use onboard the International Space Station because it allows astronauts to edit the timeline directly without the need for intervention from ground personnel. Playbook’s Mission Log is also used in analogs; it is a novel text and multimedia communication platform which supports collaboration within communication-delayed environments.

Astronaut Peggy Whitson using NASA's Playbook scheduling tool in the International Space Station
Astronaut Peggy Whitson using NASA’s Playbook scheduling tool in the International Space Station
Credit- NASA

Mission Analogs

Playbook has been used as the primary mission planning and execution tool on various NASA analog missions, including NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO), Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA), Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA), Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains (BASALT), Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS), and more. Playbook has been part of two ISS Technology Demonstrations, one as part of the Exploration Systems Development Division (ESDM) and the other, as part of Crew Autonomous Scheduling Test (CAST).

NASA Playbook in use during a NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) study.
NASA Playbook in use during a NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) study off the coast of Florida
Credit- NASA