Introduction: Expedition Personnel & Support

Rotation 29 at the Mars Society's Desert Research Station was completely dedicated to the field test of NASA's Mobile Agents EVA communications system.

This project is funded by the NASA Computing, Communications, and Information Technology Program, Intelligent Systems subprogram, Human-Centered Computing element, managed by Mike Shafto at NASA-Ames. Project members are civil servants and contractors at NASA-Ames in California and Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.

Satellite network services were funded by NASA Research & Education Network (NREN), and supported by researchers from Glenn Research Center in Ohio.

In addition to these 22 people (including the hab crew), a group of at least 16 more people constituted and supported the Remote Science Team, led by Shannon Rupert (please refer to the organization chart at the Mission Info page). Other support behind the scenes was provided by NASA Ames Public Affairs, the RIACS administration at Ames, and of course the Northern California Mars Society volunteers who provided Mission Support (plus always, that ever-reliable man in Denver, Tony Muscatello). Frank Schubert and Don Foutz maintained and resupplied the utilities. In the same vein, we must thank the recent prior crews who provided a working GreenHab, which enables the hab to have a flush toilet.

Special thanks are due to Abby Semple and Brent Garry, geology graduate students at SUNY-Buffalo, who accommodated our schedule to participate, and endured the waits, the heat, and frustrations of using a new and complicated technology.

This year we had the idea of awarding a "most valuable person" token gift each morning, with the previous day's recipient making the next award. After two weeks, we realized we had run out of days to thank all of those whose work was essential and deserved special recognition.

Objective and Accomplishments

Our objectives this year were to demonstrate longer duration (> 30 minutes) and more distant (> 100 meters) EVAs with the Mobile Agents system, including:

• the EVA Robotic Assistant robot integrated with astronaut operations
• more sophisticated voice commanding for science data collection
• collaboration with a well-organized remote science team
• planning and meeting replay tools for crew-RST communications
• EVA data stored automatically in a shared database accessible by the RST.

We handily accomplished everything. Indeed, so much happened, it will be some weeks before I can catch up with everything the RST organized by Maarten Sierhuis and Shannon Rupert has been doing.

Our daily reports log the progression of the past two weeks, in detail that none of us can reliably recall today. People not part of this experience may find it unusual that few of us could really remember how many times we started the EVA at the head of Lith Canyon (three), or on what day last week we sent the rover alone and with the astronauts to Pooh's Corner (Tuesday and Thursday-- I had to look it up). And who knows on what day we wore winter coats? Or what night it rained and the hab crew was virtually isolated because of the mud? Leaving here wearing shorts and sandals with tans, that seems like a different trip.

With ongoing 12 hour days, packed with discoveries, delays, surprises, and delights, when even on our "off-day" we exhausted ourselves in long hikes, it is no wonder that our minds are pulsing full with adventure.

Through all this, we had several important NASA visitors, two video crews, and an international reporter team. Several days ago we were excited to watch ourselves in rough cut video with interviews on NASA TV's Video File.

Our schedule was deliberately aggressive, but with a week for each of two major sites, I was confident that we'd complete the work. Howevere, we had planned to take the hab into "closed simulation mode" after EVAs to document sample curating and mission planning and only did that once (see April 30 RST communications report about Pooh's Corner EVA). The second week's EVAs ended at such odd hours (sometimes after dark) and we were so tired, continuing our work in a formal way was impractical. Closed system simulation of planning, EVA, and review will have to wait for a more routinely usable system, certainly one not requiring a dozen support people and a mini-camp in the field. Nevertheless, Maarten always carried through the sequence of interactions with the RST, and this was itself almost a second expedition on the side, with many participants, tools, and reports. They learned that EVAs on sequential days was a bit too much to cooperatively plan and review, given the uncertainty of testing and multiple time zones.

Each of the MDRS crew members here provides their own perspective on the expedition.

Maarten Sierhuis
(Project Lead & Crew RST Downlink Lead)

This rotation has been incredible. We came to the MDRS with the expectation to test our Mobile Agents system with increased capability from last year, and we have succeeded to successfully test almost all our improvements.

For me personally two pieces stood out from our accomplishments. First, this year's experiment with a remote science team (RST) and collaboration tools to support crew-RST asynchronous collaboration. A special thanks goes to all those involved in our RST team. Second, our successful experiment of using the Compendium tool as a crew EVA planning tool, used to develop a plan for an autonomous EVA for the EVA Robotic Assistant (ERA), called Boudreaux. We have proven the use of our Brahms software agents as a robot plan execution agent. Integrated with Compendium, our agents allowed the crew to develop a robot EVA plan in a crew meeting setting.

Finally, I have again enjoyed using the MDRS as our research lab. We could not do this in our laboratories. This natural setting allows us not only to test our software and hardware, but also our holistic work system of Mars crew work-life and RST collaboration.

A special thanks also goes to all those Mars Society volunteers that spend their free time in making the MDRS a viable research lab for naturalistic Mars simulations. Mission Ops for rotation 29 has participated in our Crew-RST experiment in a small, but very useful way. I hope we can improve on this next year. I am forever in debt to you all.

Rick Alena
(Mobile Wireless Computing & Hab Engineering)

My job as crewmember during Rotation 29 for the 2004 field season was Hab engineer, responsible for understanding the complicated electrical power, water supply, water recycling and computer systems of the Mars Desert Research Station. Previous field outings to the Arctic have prepared me to understand the unique nature of these field systems and the inherent problems associated with them. This trip was a continuation of that experience since we experienced power outages due to a coolant leak, water supply problems due to wind damage, and minor issues with the Greenhab filtering system. I am very happy with the new septic system, which works well as a replacement for the Incinolet.

My professional activities with NASA Mobile Agents included setting up a complex wireless network over 4.5 km of rugged terrain into remote science sites in deep canyons serving two astronauts and an EVA Robotic Assistant. It was really a thrill to see how well it worked, and it even withstood the wind gusts which occurred during most of our stay. This work was augmented by the NASA Research and Education Network (NREN), Ames Emergency Communications and Glenn Research Center teams which provided high-bandwidth satellite connections, network routing services, Internet telephone service and long-haul UHF voice capability. We have important field data for future communication systems designs.

I also enjoyed seeing the Mobile Agents software working to acquire scientific data and send it to a Remote Science Team. Beyond this, my personal interests in photography and geology were well-served working with my five intelligent and considerate roommates.

John Dowding
(Voice Commanding)

Coming to the end of this, my third field test, I feel like I finally have a clue what I am up to here. There are too many positive things to report (and only a few negative ones) than can fit in this space. As in the earlier years, I've learned a lot here, and taken pride in my own accomplishments and the accomplishments of our team. I am going back to NASA with nearly 1/2 GB of speech and logfile data, and I am looking forward to analyzing it over the next 12 months. and using it to improve our spoken dialogue systems, until our next opportunity to test it for real in the field. I am also leaving here with lots of ideas about how to improve the hab experience, and how to better make use of this facility. We have accomplished a lot, and there is a great deal left to do.

Abby Semple
(Geologist)

I am a Geology Ph.D. candidate from Buffalo, NY and this is my second crew rotation with the Mobile Agents group. I am one of two geologists and we are the "Astronauts" for this field test. I feel we have had a really successful field season and have come so far since last year.

I have been really impressed by the way our systems worked this year. I felt that my personal computer agent was more robust than last year, had a number of very useful functions added (for example, a labeling scheme for our sample bags, automatic associations made between the sample bags, voice notes and images we take with the last worksite we made), and was much smoother and quicker running.

I have been massively impressed by the hard work of the entire crew to make possible a 3 hr plus EVA, at a distance greater than 5 km from the Hab, where data was automatically installed in a database and was sent back to a Remote Science Team (RST) which includes members all over the world. The RST have been great, their insight into how to improve our work methods has been invaluable and their assistance in analysis and planning has been extremely useful.

Another great feature about this year's field test has been the inclusion of the ERA, the robot that has accompanied us into the field. The ERA makes a very good work table and equipment carrier as well as a useful tool for image taking.

All in all a wonderfully successful field trip I think. To me it felt like the systems were really helping my field work and I could still work at a good pace. The greatest plus of all is the people who put their energy into this to make the fieldtest successful and who are all great to spend time with.

Brent Garry
(Geologist)

As one of the geologist/astronauts on Crew 29, I was excited to be part of the reaching of new milestones in human-robotic exploration of planetary bodies. During simulated EVA's with two astronauts and a sophisticatd robotic assistant, I was able to learn the mental awareness that is needed by the astronauts to be able to lead a robot into the field and using it effectively to help accomplish science tasks. Our EVA's lasted several hours and we traveled between 1-2 kilometers with the robot following us to and from the field, a major leap in progress from last years field season. Simulations with human-robot teams like the ones performed by Crew 29 are what NASA needs to continue to help turn concepts and ideas into practice and pedagogy in preparing for our return to the moon and our first steps on Mars.

Commander's Perspective:

I had been asked by an Italian newspaper to answer some questions. I believe this edited version provides an apt summary of my experience:

1. Is it difficult to command a mission-simulation on Mars?
   It is a full-time activity, 24 hours a day. One must manage the group's productivity, delegate and review tasks, coordinate with mission support, and serve as ambassador for the mission. For missions longer than two weeks, one would need normal weekends and more normal work days (not 12 hours every day).
   
   
2. What are your tasks during the mission and during the day?
   MDRS-29 is not a typical crew simulation, we are simulating EVAs in order to field test communications systems that relate the crew to robots, tools, the remaining crew in the hab, and people back on earth.
   
   My tasks are to organize and carry out a briefing every morning, to help the group set achievable daily goals, to review our progress and offer advice, to write daily reports (with photos), to upload remote participants' reports, to interact with mission support, to be proactive in managing and maintaining the utilities, to ensure the safety of the crew in difficult weather conditions, to ensure that individual tasks are accomplished and people are communicating with each other, and to sustain a high level of optimism and good feeling in the team. Plus I prepare or direct the preparation of most dinners.
   
   
3. What are the most interesting activities on the base?
   Living together as a group of friends in close quarters, having breakfast and dinner together, being able to have privacy or step out into the group and collaborate as necessary. Our EVA field test itself is always very exciting; it feels like making a movie.
   
   
4. Your feeling is really like being on Mars surface (gravity apart)?
   No, we are isolated and in a beautiful desert, with adverse conditions (heat, wind, dust, mud -- all in one week). But it is not truly as dangerous or remote as Mars. It is good for putting us in the right frame of mind to do our work, but on Mars I believe our emotional experience would be dramatically different. There would be no chance of resupply. No expectations of being home with your spouse in a week or two. EVAs would be extremely dangerous; here it is not much more difficult than a hike in the desert.
   
   
5. What is the sensation as you look outside through the porthole?
   Harsh, intensely bright, overbearing heat, dusty and empty-yet full of the fascinating hill shapes and colors, with layers and rocks and stones of all sizes. Most of the day the color is drab, a purplish brown red or sandy beige. At sunrise and sunset it glows like gold. This week the desert has become a place where one cannot stand for more than a few minutes without feeling uncomfortable.
   
   
6. Is the base comfortable?
   Yes, I like my stateroom very much. The upper deck has an intimate, easy feeling, very personal and human. The lower deck is utilitarian, colder, less finished, a kind of work area.
   
   
7. The isolation is a problem?
   Not usually. It is only a serious problem for medical emergencies. A member of our larger NASA group had a heart problem and had to be sent to a hospital three hours away. Heading to the furthest point, Abby and Brent have realized they don't need to baby the robot--just keep on walking and it will find a path. But still they turn around now and then, curious to watch its progress.
   
   
8. The EVA is difficult, interesting? What do you do during EVA?
   The EVA is very difficult to initiate because of the great complexity of all the computer and communication systems we are using. Please refer to our Mission Info page for the details of the Mobile Agents system and the daily dispatches for what we do during EVAs.
   
   
9. What are the crew's activities during free time?
   We have virtually no free time, except for taking one day off (out of 17), the middle Sunday. Most crew members communicate with friends or family by email (or video conference). Most of us read books or magazines. But our free time is often less than an hour per day.
   
   
10. Your experience with the other members of the crew is good or bad?
    My experience is very good. I enjoy the challenge of managing such a large team, with so many different temperaments and ways of working. I especially enjoy keeping the group focused, dealing with real choices before us, and holding commentary and speculation for after-dinner conversation.
    
    
11. You are interested to repeat the experience?
    I would be happy to return with this group to continue our field work. But this is something you feel only when the expedition is over. Each time we learn a great deal. We might need to return when the weather is cooler because of overheating of the computers we are using outdoors during EVAs. We would not repeat this experience exactly, but define new challenges and use better methods.
    
    
12. Why do you chose to live this experience?
    Sending people to Mars is one of the most important enterprises for humanity. I am fortunate to have the broad background in psychology, computer science, anthropology, and engineering so I can help design and manage the systems we will use on Mars. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to direct such an expedition and to live in such a free way, with people who can do remarkable, important work.
    
    
13. Is this kind of experience useful for the future mission to Mars?
    Without doubt, the EVA communications systems we are constructing-relating people, robots, and computers-is inevitably what we will need on Mars. Our experience as a team here at MDRS is just one small part of the cooperation between NASA, universities, and private organizations that will ensure success in reaching Mars and thriving there.