Human Support Issues and Systems for the Space Exploration Initiative: Results from Project Outreach
Abstract
Human support issues hold the key to mankind's future in space. Success in resolving these issues and achieving the broader goals of the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) will evolve only from a view of human space exploration as an ongoing enterprise where investments in research and development resolve operational problems, create infrastructure for future missions, and provide spinoffs that enrich the quality of American life. Fundamental questions of crew adaptability, tolerance, performance, and survival must be confronted SEI feasibility, continued support, and eventual success. Further, human support issues should be incorporated by life scientists early in (1) formulating preliminary requirements and guidelines, (2) planning missions, and (3) designing spacecraft. This should be done in ways that reflect the best judgment of both the space and life science communities. Properly posed requirements will facilitate the development of robust system concepts and design solutions that can be adapted to new knowledge, not always favorable, from R and D and test programs conducted on Earth and in space. Only in this manner can we identify (and reject) architectures that rely on potentially unstable, overly optimistic design solutions that exist in a narrow region separating feasibility from failure, and that can accommodate only favorable new findings.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA256890
Entities
People
- J. Aroesty
- Julie V. Logan
- R. Zimmerman
Organizations
- RAND Corporation