NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Interactive orbital proximity operations planning systemAn interactive graphical planning system for on-site planning of proximity operations in the congested multispacecraft environment about the space station is presented. The system shows the astronaut a bird's eye perspective of the space station, the orbital plane, and the co-orbiting spacecraft. The system operates in two operational modes: (1) a viewpoint mode, in which the astronaut is able to move the viewpoint around in the orbital plane to range in on areas of interest; and (2) a trajectory design mode, in which the trajectory is planned. Trajectory design involves the composition of a set of waypoints which result in a fuel-optimal trajectory which satisfies all operational constraints, such as departure and arrival constraints, plume impingement constraints, and structural constraints. The main purpose of the system is to present the trajectory and the constraints in an easily interpretable graphical format. Through a graphical interactive process, the trajectory waypoints are edited until all operational constraints are satisfied. A series of experiments was conducted to evaluate the system. Eight airline pilots with no prior background in orbital mechanics participated in the experiments. Subject training included a stand-alone training session of about 6 hours duration, in which the subjects became familiar with orbital mechanics concepts and performed a series of exercises to familiarize themselves with the control and display features of the system. They then carried out a series of production runs in which 90 different trajectory design situations were randomly addressed. The purpose of these experiments was to investigate how the planning time, planning efforts, and fuel expenditures were affected by the planning difficulty. Some results of these experiments are presented.
Document ID
19910010839
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Grunwald, Arthur J.
(Technion - Israel Inst. of Tech. Haifa., United States)
Ellis, Stephen R.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
December 1, 1990
Publication Information
Publication: Manual Control Aspects of Orbital Flight
Subject Category
Astronautics (General)
Accession Number
91N20152
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available