Media Invited to NASA's Newest Communications-Delay Tests

June 11, 2012

Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
jbuck@nasa.gov

Brandi Dean
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
brandi.k.dean@nasa.gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-111

MEDIA INVITED TO NASA'S NEWEST COMMUNICATIONS-DELAY TESTS

HOUSTON -- NASA is preparing to move exploration beyond Earth's orbit,
but communication delays will change how the agency conducts its
missions. Reporters can see for themselves how NASA is planning for
that change through NASA's newest test project, the Autonomous
Mission Operations (AMO). Journalists are invited to watch the
simulations at 3 p.m. CDT Thursday, June 14 at NASA's Johnson Space
Center in Houston.

NASA's Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket, which
currently are in development, will move humans farther away from low
Earth orbit than ever before. These greater distances will cause
communications delays to increase. Tasks that once were the
responsibility of flight controllers in mission control will shift to
the crews aboard Orion. AMO will investigate various ways astronauts
and flight controllers can work through this challenge.

Reporters will meet members of one of the crews involved in the test
and their support team. They also will tour the Deep Space Habitat,
which is being used for the simulation, and the supporting control
room. To participate in the activities, reporters should contact
Brandi Dean at brandi.k.dean@nasa.gov by 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 13.

The tests will simulate the return from a 30-day exploration of a
near-Earth asteroid, which is part of a larger 386-day mission. Crews
consisting of one astronaut and three flight controllers will perform
simulated tasks under varying time delays -- 1.2 seconds, 50 seconds
and 5 minutes, one way -- that impede to differing degrees real-time
conversations with mission control. They will communicate through and
evaluate the effectiveness of voice, text and video messages; written
questionnaires; and computer timeline tools. The results should help
identify the best communications tools for future exploration
missions.

The AMO project is part of NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Program
consisting of small projects aimed at rapidly developing and
demonstrating prototype systems for future human spaceflight
missions. Projects in the program will help reduce risk, lower cost
and test concepts for future human missions beyond Earth orbit.

For updates on testing and interviews with members of the Autonomous
Mission Operations research team, visit:

http://www.facebook.com/NASA.AMO

For more information on Advanced Exploration Systems and Autonomous
Mission Operations, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/aes/index.html


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