Search Results

During the first two weeks of September, 2006, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) Advanced Extra Vehicular Activity (AEVA) team led the field test portion of the 2006 Desert Research and Technology Studies (D-RATS) in the Flagstaff, AZ area. The Desert RATS field test activity is the year-long culmination of various individual science and advanced engineering discipline areas’ technology and operations development efforts into a coordinated field test demonstration under representative (analog) planetary surface terrain conditions. The 2006 Desert RATS was the ninth RATS field test and was the largest, most systems-oriented, integrated field test to date with participants from seven NASA field centers, three industry partners, and two research organizations. Each week of the test, RATS addressed specific sets of objectives. The first week of field testing focused on Lunar surface science and in-situ resource utilization tasks.

With a renewed focus on manned exploration, NASA is beginning to prepare for the challenges that lie ahead. Future manned missions will require a symbiosis of human and robotic infrastructure. As a step towards understanding the roles of humans and robots in future planetary exploration, NASA headquarters funded ILC Dover and the University of Maryland to perform research in the area of human and robotic interfaces. The research focused on development and testing of communication components, robotic command and control interfaces, electronic displays, EVA navigation software and hardware, and EVA lighting. The funded research was a 12-month effort culminating in a field test with NASA personnel.