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Human Space Exploration and Human Space Flight: Latency and the Cognitive Scale of the UniverseThe role of telerobotics in space exploration as placing human cognition on other worlds is limited almost entirely by the speed of light, and the consequent communications latency that results from large distances. This latency is the time delay between the human brain at one end, and the telerobotic effector and sensor at the other end. While telerobotics and virtual presence is a technology that is rapidly becoming more sophisticated, with strong commercial interest on the Earth, this time delay, along with the neurological timescale of a human being, quantitatively defines the cognitive horizon for any locale in space. That is, how distant can an operator be from a robot and not be significantly impacted by latency? We explore that cognitive timescale of the universe, and consider the implications for telerobotics, human space flight, and participation by larger numbers of people in space exploration. We conclude that, with advanced telepresence, sophisticated robots could be operated with high cognition throughout a lunar hemisphere by astronauts within a station at an Earth-Moon Ll or L2 venue. Likewise, complex telerobotic servicing of satellites in geosynchronous orbit can be carried out from suitable terrestrial stations.
Document ID
20110024057
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Lester, Dan
(Texas Univ. Austin, TX, United States)
Thronson, Harley
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 2011
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Report/Patent Number
GSFC.JA.5285.2011
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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