Started From The Bottom, Now We’re … In Orbit
Sprint 1: Kick-off & Research Plan
5–4–3–2–1–0 booster ignition and liftoff!
We are currently 21 days into our journey and have just started to scrape the surface. As NASA prepares for the Artemis Program, our team is also thinking about the future trip to Mars, specifically communication between crew and Mission Control Center (MCC). The Playbook is an application that the crew and MCC use to communicate timelines, tasks, and details. However, as the crew gets farther away from earth, there is a substantial delay in communications. That’s where we come in.
Meet the Crew
We are Chronos, five Masters of Human-Computer Interactions candidates at Carnegie Mellon University. We will be sharing a sprint-by-sprint account of our progress, wins, meltdowns, pivots, breakthroughs, and laughs.
Phil Gase
Phil brings a Chemical Engineering degree and years of experience in engineering, manufacturing, and Project Management to guide the team through any challenge we may face.
Special Talent: Skilled Soccer Player
Future Specialization: UX Strategy & Design
Nandhini Gounder
A recent BAS Computer Science and Design graduate, Nandhini brings a fresh new take on research and design having done research in Human-Computer Interaction, Design, and Privacy.
Special Talent: Master Baker (ask her about her matcha cookies!)
Future Specialization: Product Design
Daniel Le Compte
Daniel used his background in social and cognitive psychology and Audio Research and User Testing experience to lead the team through the research phase.
Special Talent: Brings Plants Back to Life
Future Specialization: Research
Isabel Ngan
Combining her experience in advertising, art, engineering design, and business, Isabel helps the team bridge the gap between the technical and visual.
Special Talent: Secret Dog Groomer
Future Specialization: Product-Service Design
Akshaya Madhavan
Akshaya brings their passion for empowering people through user-centered design and their computer science degree to inspire and push the team through every sprint.
Special Talent: Renowned Illustrator
Future Specialization: UX Research
Remote Kickoff
Having read initial papers surrounding information flow during space missions and asynchronous communication, our team was excited to really get to know the problem ~space~ with our initial kickoff meeting with NASA. We were joined by our NASA core team, Isabel (Yep there are two of us!), Joe, and Jimin, and both the design and technology leads of The Playbook.
With the NASA team, we were able to capture a better understanding of stakeholders, current communication models, and scenarios of asynchronous communication.
While we went into this Kickoff meeting with questions, we came out with many answers and many more questions. Based on our questions we had formed from the kick-off meeting, we found 6 areas of research we wanted to better understand:
- Cognitive Burden and Mental Models when the crew is idle
- Information Structure of Communication
- Different Effects of Reaction Times and Delayed Communication
- Planned and Unplanned Scenarios
- Planning Mission Tasks
- Distributed System Communication
Interstellar
To understand space missions and to get ourselves ready for everything this project might throw at us, it was time for us to watch Interstellar.
Our Key Takeaways:
- ⏳ It takes time to innovate, and discover and develop revolutionary technology
- 👨🏻🚀 Matt Damon captured (to a cinematic degree) a possible outcome of delayed communication and isolation
- 💪 If there is a will, there is a way!
Research Plan
In order to get up to speed quickly and accurately, we will decide on a three-pronged approach to our research: interviews, contextual inquiry, and directed storytelling; simulated asynchronous communication; and literature review.
Interviews, Contextual Inquiry, and Directed Storytelling
We have been lucky enough to have been put into contact with 13 subject matter experts (SME) from NASA, Ames research center, and related facilities, ranging from previous ISS and analogous domain CAPCOMs, Principle Investigators for the analogous domain missions, scientists, engineers, and more. These people bring invaluable experience and extensive training and knowledge of this problem space, especially the problem of asynchronous communication.
Simulated Asynchronous Communication
To immerse ourselves in the context of the problem space with users, we would need to arrange a group of astronauts and a team of highly technical and skilled NASA team members and run them through a simulated mission. Unfortunately, that’s just not possible due to their availability and work. Thus, the next best thing we will use is an analogous domain “Simulated Mission” to get a deeper understanding of asynchronous communication in team-based environments that are similar in key ways to what astronauts and MCC will experience. This will not only get us deep, qualitative insights from running through a simulated environment, but will also allow us to immerse ourselves in the environment.
Literature Review
To fill out our research approach and ensure we are gathering as much “state-of-the-art” research and knowledge on async. comm., we will conduct a literature review to better understand all six areas: Cognitive Burden, Information Structure, Reaction Time/Delay, Context/Scenarios (Planned/Unplanned), Distributed Systems, and Planning itself.
Chronos Communication
Along with our progress, we try to make time for light, engaging modalities to get us thinking about space travel and asynchronous communication from different perspectives.
This week, Isabel is sharing her recommendation: Netflix’s series, AWAY. The Netflix series explores different aspects of space travel and provides a look into possible problems that may occur, different mental states that the crew go through, and the importance of communication with the ground.
May our team be as world-class as the Atlas team in the show!
Signing off for now,
Chronos
Chronos Acronym Dictionary
ARC: Ames Research Center
EVA: Extra-Vehicular Activity
IVA: Intra-Vehicular Activity
MCC: Mission Control Center
NEEMO: NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation
SME: Subject Matter Experts
Opinions expressed are solely our own and do not represent the views or opinions of The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
