Funding Status:
Completed - Task completed and produced a deliverable
Procurement Mechanism(s):
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Aims:
Software using mathematical
models can help inform assessments related to work-rest schedules and implementation
of fatigue countermeasures. Branches of
the military, for example, use the Sleep, Activity, Fatigue and Task
Effectiveness (SAFTE) model to predict performance effectiveness relative to
sleep-wake history. Other relevant
modeling efforts have included the development of the Circadian Performance
Simulation Software (CPSS) by Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the
Individualized Fatigue Meter by Pulsar Informatics. NASA, the National Space Biomedical Research
Institute, and other agencies have supported the development of such software
solutions to provide predictions of performance capability relative to
sleep-wake history. Software solutions can inform real-time task
scheduling decisions and aid implementation of countermeasures such as caffeine
and lighting – especially important, given that the proper scheduling of such
countermeasures is essential to their effectiveness.
Mathematical models can
therefore be used operationally in future space exploration missions, to inform
the scheduling of mission-related tasks and the timing of fatigue-related
countermeasures. This topic is soliciting proposals to evaluate the use of such
a tool, as a means through which autonomous crews in a simulated spaceflight
mission can appropriately implement fatigue-related countermeasures, and for
understanding how a crew medical officer (who would be a participant in the study)
and/or an individual crewmember will use the information to make countermeasure
recommendations and real-time scheduling changes.
This task seeks to assess, in an operational environment (the Habitat Exploration Research Analog, or HERA, at Johnson Space Center), the acceptability, usability, and overall feasibility of sleep-wake models and
associated software, to make informed decisions for long-duration space
exploration missions (LDEMs), when ground support will be minimized and crews
will function more autonomously.