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As NASA pursues Artemis – landing American astronauts on the Moon by 2024, the agency will accelerate investing in lunar surface architecture and technology development. To keep pace with this timeline, it is essential that crewmembers on future extravehicular activities (EVAs) are equipped with the appropriate human-autonomy enabling technologies necessary for the elevated demands of Lunar surface exploration and extreme terrestrial access. The next-generation lunar spacesuit, the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Mobility Unit (xEMU), defines requirements for a visual display system. Joint Augmented Reality Visual Informatics System (JARVIS) is a proposed augmented reality (AR) suit display that will aid in EVA operations, improve crew communication & performance, and enable NASA to innovate optics within the emerging AR field. Despite the plan for display architecture within xEMU, there are no plans to mature the technology beyond the ‘state of art’ due to the compressed “Boots on Moon by 2024” schedules. As an aid, a visual system can portray information while minimizing attentional loss, reducing crew time, increasing situational awareness, and lowering workload [1]. In future missions, a dynamic visual display system would optimize the effectiveness of astronaut surface operations. JARVIS could be used as a tool to enable interfacing with lunar payloads, support science work, visualize consumables, streamline crew-to-crew communication, bolster Mission Control Center (MCC) interaction methods, and navigate terrain. This proposal aims to create solutions for the following: Gap 1) design and develop heads-in display (HID) hardware for the unique optical characteristics of the spacesuit, Gap 2) scope, design, develop conops and prototype user interfaces (UIs) for introducing a new means of control/interaction to mission control and the crew, and Gap 3) integrate hardware into the xEMU suit along with analog testing of UIs in a hybrid reality environment. Deliverables will include optics hardware, UI prototypes, and fully integrated test and integration for each component to accelerate technology maturation from technology readiness level (TRL) 3 to TRL 5. The team will collaborate on hardware development with the commercial partner, Collins Aerospace, a leader in aerospace and defense vision systems like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Helmet. To accommodate this human-centric technology, the team will utilize the Rational Unified Process (RUP) management style. RUP is an iterative, phased approach commonly used in software or user-centered projects. JARVIS hardware and software will depend on crew anthropometry and cognitive needs. This requires frequent user testing which positions RUP as the appropriate management framework.
Explore, design, build, and program a spacesuit heads-in display compatible with the xEMU spacesuit.
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This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.
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