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Definition and Development of Habitation Readiness Levels (HRLs) for Planetary Surface HabitatsOne could argue that NASA has never developed a true habitat for a planetary surface, with only the Lunar Module from the 1960's-era Apollo Program providing for a sparse 2 person, 3 day capability. An integral part of NASA's current National Vision for Space Exploration is missions back to the moon and eventually to Mars. One of the largest leaps i11 lunar surface exploration beyond the Apollo lunar missions will be the conduct of these extended duration human missions. These missions could range from 30 to 90 days in length initially and may eventually range up to 500 days in length. To enable these extended duration human missions, probably the single-most important lunar surface element is the Surface Habitat. The requirements that must be met by the Surface Habitat will go far beyond the safety, performance and operational requirements of the Lunar Module, and NASA needs to develop a basis for making intelligent, technically correct habitat design decisions. This paper will discuss the possibilities of the definition and development of a Habitation Readiness Level (HRL) scale that might be mapped to current Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) for technology development. HRLs could help measure how well a particular technology thrust is advanced by a proposed planetary habitat concept. The readiness level would have to be measured differently than TRLs, and may include such milestones as habitat design performance under simulated mission operations and constraints (including relevant field testing), functional allocation demonstrations, crew interface evaluation and post-occupancy evaluation. With many concepts for planetary habitats proposed over the past 20 years, there are many strategic technical challenges facing designers of planetary habitats that will support NASA's exploration of the moon and Mars. The systematic assessment of a variety of planetary habitat options will be an important approach and will influence the associated requirements for human design, volumetrics, functionality, systems hardware and operations.
Document ID
20070019360
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Connolly, Janis H.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Toups, Larry
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2007
Subject Category
Man/System Technology And Life Support
Meeting Information
Meeting: 1st Exploration Conference
Location: Orlando, FL
Country: United States
Start Date: January 30, 2005
End Date: February 1, 2005
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Funding Number(s)
OTHER: 905-10-AF
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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