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Crew Interfaces

Encyclopedia
Updated Feb 1, 2024

Contents

Introduction

 As the hub of human spaceflight, how humans interact with vehicles and interfaces is a high priority – JSC’s crew interface capability encompasses a wide range of skills and work focused on enhancing spacecraft design, operation, and safety. Effective crew interfaces enable astronauts to monitor and control various systems, providing them with essential information about the spacecraft’s status, mission parameters, and environmental conditions. In the dynamic and complex environment of space, quick and accurate decision-making is essential for mission success and crew safety. Intuitive and well-designed interfaces contribute to efficient human-system interactions, reducing the likelihood of errors and improving overall mission performance. 

During space missions, crew members may encounter unexpected situations or emergencies; in such scenarios, clear and accessible interfaces become critical for rapid response and problem resolution. Whether it involves adjusting spacecraft parameters, troubleshooting issues, or executing emergency procedures, astronauts rely on well-designed interfaces to navigate through complex tasks under challenging conditions. Simulators and training systems with realistic interfaces help astronauts familiarize themselves with spacecraft controls and procedures, improving their preparedness for mission-specific challenges. A well-designed interface contributes to effective training, ensuring that astronauts are proficient in handling various aspects of the spacecraft. 

Overall, crew interfaces are a fundamental component of human-spacecraft interaction, influencing mission success, crew safety, and the overall efficiency of spaceflight operations. As space exploration advances, the importance of user-friendly and adaptable interfaces will continue to grow, allowing astronauts to effectively engage with increasingly complex spacecraft systems and missions. We invite our partners to leverage our expertise and capabilities in crew interfaces to improve their crew’s preparedness and performance in space.

Displays, Controls and User Interfaces

Rapid Prototyping Lab (RPL) 

Overview | JSC’s Rapid Prototyping Lab (RPL) has an extensive history in prototyping displays and controls for multiple crew cockpits. RPL focuses on the rapid development of functional crew cockpit display and control interface prototypes. 

For more information see: RPL Poster

Details |

  • Adept at using immediate feedback and close collaboration between crew, contractors, and NASA partners to rapidly prototype effective, innovative cockpits
  • Specialized experience in designing interfaces tailored for the needs of the mission and crew, quickly and cost-effectively 
  • Interface process strikes a balance between the practical considerations of cockpits, crew feedback, and innovation 
  • Astronaut vetted software interface designs that build on lessons learned and lean toward common human interfaces 
  • Integrated, multi-disciplinary team of crew, flight controllers, human-engineering, safety, and others to support your concept prototype 
  • Experience combining subsystems displays, caution & warning, and hardware controls into software crew interfaces 
  • Requirements generating documents and users’ guides can be provided with prototype products 
  • Utilize semi-automated processes to simplify document maintenance and ensure consistent quality 
  • Hardware prototyping and fabrication 
  • Electronic procedures (eProcs); crew flight procedures fully integrated with the display software suite 
  • Cockpit experience includes Space Shuttle, X-38, Orion’s glass cockpit, Gateway and HLS 

Cockpit Hardware Prototyping and Fabrication 

Overview | Rapid prototyping and fabrication of crew cockpit hardware enables early and cost-effective design evaluations. 

Details |

  • Prototype display and control simulations that enable cockpit assessments without the costs of flight-grade mockups
  • Simulators that provide high-quality look and feel for the hardware and software interfaces, improving evaluation experience 
  • Experience combining subsystems displays, caution & warning, and hardware controls into software crew interfaces 
  • Requirements generating documents and users’ guides can be provided with prototype products 

Systems Engineering Simulator (SES) 

Overview | The Systems Engineering Simulator (SES) provides immersive, human-in-the-loop simulations of NASA vehicles. These simulations utilize realistic cockpits that are typically installed within a dome visual system and paired with engineering-fidelity models of the vehicle systems and the space environments in which they operate. These simulations are utilized for all phases of a space mission, from early conceptualization through system development, mission planning, training, and operations. 

Details |

  • Two dome visual systems, one containing an ISS cupola mockup and the other containing an Orion mockup (either upright or reclined)
  • Six-Degrees-of-Freedom (6-DOF) motion table for simulating Artemis assets, including rovers and landers 
  • Video wall containing reconfigurable cockpits for assessing advanced concept vehicles 
  • Reconfigurable mock mission control and remote operation station for Artemis Missions
  • Dedicated Virtual Reality (VR) area to perform integrated Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) Artemis Mission Evaluation
  • Math modeling of space vehicles and the environments in which they operate 
  • Study/training support to develop initial conditions, verify scenarios, support operations, and post-process data as needed 
  • Real-time maintenance support to resolve issues with minimal downtime 

Read more:

https://ses.jsc.nasa.gov/index/facilities

Crew Exercise Common GUI Software 

Overview | JSC provides OnePortal, a software application with a common GUI across multiple exercise devices that collects, stores, and displays data as well as receives and displays exercise prescriptions to the crewmember. 

Details | OnePortal is a software application that can be readily modified to interface with any type of Exercise Device. This approach enables reduced development costs, shared upgrades, and simplified crew training. Examples of exercise devices to which crew exercise common GUI software has been interfaced including Miniature Exercise Device (MED), Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED), Orion Flywheel, Second Generation Treadmill (T2), Hopper 2 & 3, Advanced Twin Lifting and Aerobic System (ATLAS), and Hybrid Ultimate Lifting Kit (HULK). 

Robotics Human Machine Interface Development 

Overview | JSC provides expertise in software and displays for robotics operations both on-orbit and in Mission Control Center (MCC) that maximizes safety and increases automation in robotics operations. 

Details |

  • Develop displays and video overlays that present the crew with vehicle telemetry in intuitive ways
  • Creation of a software development environment that assists operators and flight-controllers in the development of automation products such as scripts, procedures, and command plans 

Displays and Controls Design and Evaluation 

Overview | The JSC Human Engineering Displays & Controls group utilizes an iterative user-centered design approach that ensures a system optimized for the user experience in the operational environment while reducing cost by getting feedback from users, subject matter experts, operational experts, etc. earlier in the design lifecycle. 

Details | Display standards provide guidelines that can be shared with developers to implement best practices up-front allowing evaluations to focus on other potential issues. 

  • Usability Evaluations 
  • Human-in-the-loop (HITL) evaluations 
  • Requirements development 
  • Task Analysis 
  • Link Analysis 
  • Task Allocation 
  • Workload Assessment 
  • Error Rate Analysis 

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Spacesuit engineers demonstrate how four crew members would be arranged for launch inside the Orion spacecraft, using a mockup of the vehicle at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Oct. 24, 2014.
Spacesuit engineers demonstrate how four crew members would be arranged for launch inside the Orion spacecraft, using a mockup of the vehicle at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Oct. 24, 2014.
NASA astronauts Chris Ferguson (right background), STS-135 commander; Doug Hurley (center), pilot; and Sandy Magnus, mission specialist, participate in an exercise in the systems engineering simulator in the Avionics Systems Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
NASA astronauts Chris Ferguson (right background), STS-135 commander; Doug Hurley (center), pilot; and Sandy Magnus, mission specialist, participate in an exercise in the systems engineering simulator in the Avionics Systems Laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
In a lab at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, engineers simulate conditions that astronauts in space suits would experience when the Orion spacecraft is vibrating during launch atop the agency’s powerful Space Launch System rocket on its way to deep space destinations on Jan. 19, 2017. A series of tests occurring this month at Johnson will help human factors engineers assess how well the crew can interact with the displays and controls they will use to monitor Orion’s systems and operate the spacecraft when necessary.
Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, 3 members of the Artemis II crew, visited the Lockheed Martin facility in Littleton, Colorado. The crew met with software and avionics hardware teams working on the Orion spacecraft.
NASA is performing a series of tests to evaluate how astronauts and ground crew involved in final preparations before Orion missions will quickly get out of the spacecraft if an emergency were to occur on the pad prior to launch. In the hours before astronauts launch to space in Orion from NASA’s modernized spaceport in Florida in on the agency’s Space Launch System rocket, they will cross the Crew Access Arm 300 feet above the ground and climb inside the crew module with the assistance of ground personnel trained to help them strap into their seats and take care of last-minute needs. The testing is helping engineers evaluate hardware designs and establish procedures that would be used to get astronauts and ground crew out of the capsule as quickly as possible. Flight and ground crew are required to get out of Orion within two minutes to protect for a variety of failure scenarios that do not require the launch abort system to be activated, such as crew incapacitation, fire or the presence of toxins in the cabin. This testing took place the week of Oct. 30, 2017 using the Orion mockup in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. In this photo, engineers used fake smoke to imitate a scenario in which astronauts must exit the capsule when their vision is obscured. Markings on the ground indicate where the Crew Access Arm would be located and help guide the crew. This testing is a collaborative effort between the Orion and Ground Systems Development and Operations programs. Previous egress testing at Johnson and in the Gulf of Mexico has evaluated how crew will exit the spacecraft at the end of their missions.
 
Credit: NASA/Rad Sinyak
ss065e073985 (May 26, 2021) — NASA astronaut Megan McArthur participate in the Pilote experiment. The experiment from the European Space Agency uses virtual reality gear and tests a crew member’s aptitude when maneuvering a computer-generated robotic arm toward a target. Results may influence the design of workstations and interfaces for future spacecraft and space habitats.

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