Detecting Pilot Spatial Disorientation to Trigger Active Countermeasures During Lunar Landing

During transit in microgravity, astronauts will reinterpret neurovestibular stimuli, prior to initial exposure to partial gravity when landing on the Moon or Mars. This poses a risk of spatial disorientation and impaired manual control performance during piloted planetary landings. Here, we propose to develop, validate, and assess a system for detecting when astronauts may become disoriented in real-time, such that it can be used to trigger active countermeasures for piloted planetary landings. Our approach leverages a well-validated computational model for human spatial orientation, now applied to partial gravity planetary landings. Incorporating microgravity neurovestibular adaptation, the vehicle motions of each landing trajectory are processed in real-time by the computational model to detect pilot spatial disorientation. We will assess the system using a ground-based lunar landing analog, combining a gravity transition (3 Gx) with a motion-based planetary landing simulation. First, we will experimentally tune and re-validate the computational model for detecting spatial disorientation, accounting for the effects of the recent gravity transition. Then, using the high-fidelity Disorientation Research Device, we will assess the benefit of the active countermeasure triggering system. Critically, this approach of triggering manual control countermeasures only when they are needed (i.e., when the pilot is about to be disoriented) avoids the added burden on the pilot to continuously process additional sensory information or otherwise have increased workload. We aim to deliver a validated performance support tool for triggering active countermeasures for pilot spatial disorientation during manually controlled lunar landings.

This technology is currently in development. When additional publically releasable information becomes available, it will be posted on TechPort.

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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