MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- NASA astronauts on this month's space shuttle
mission will test an "intelligent" computer designed to help them work
more efficiently and improve the quality of science in space.

Known as the Astronaut Science Advisor (ASA), the system will help
astronauts get the most out of the time allotted to an experiment. The ASA
will undergo its first flight test during the 14-day Spacelab Life
Sciences mission, scheduled for launch in mid-October.

The system was developed by NASA's Ames Research Center and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Larry Young of MIT
conceived the idea for the system during a sabbatical at Ames and Stanford
University in 1987.

"The critical resource in flight experiments is time," said Dr. Silvano
Colombano of Ames' Artificial Intelligence Research Branch. "The ASA has
the potential to fundamentally change the way astronauts interact with
ground-based scientists in the space station era." It helps astronauts
increase their productivity and improve the scientific quality of the data
they collect.

Artificial intelligence is a subfield of computer science that seeks to
give computers the ability to solve problems typically requiring human
intelligence.

Another critical factor is the limited ability of either an earth-bound
scientist or the astronaut performing a test to correct problems or follow
new leads as the experiment unfolds in space.

Having served as a principal investigator on several space shuttle
missions, Young wanted to use a computer to help guide astronauts during
life science experiments. The ASA uses a laptop computer and a combination
of commercial and NASA-developed software to provide the crew with
detailed information about the experiment.

"It's the next best thing to having the principal investigator on board,"
Colombano said. "Our goal is to increase the astronaut's ability to be a
scientific collaborator with the ground-based principal investigator."

The ASA has four major functions: diagnosis and troubleshooting of
experiment equipment, data collection, management of experimental
procedures and detection of "interesting" data. The ASA recognizes
something as "interesting" by comparing the data it collects with
pre-determined rules set up by the principal investigator for analyzing
data.

The developers of the ASA hope to prove that an on-board "assistant" can
significantly enhance the crew's ability to perform science experiments.
It also would reduce reliance on air-to-ground communications, Colombano
said.

The ASA was ground-tested during the first Spacelab Life Sciences mission
in June 1991. During its flight test in October, it will support the
Rotating Dome Experiment. Young is the principal investigator for this
experiment, as well as an alternate payload specialist on this mission.

The Rotating Dome Experiment will study how the conflict between inner ear
signals and visual cues contributes to space motion sickness. It also will
measure how human adaptation to microgravity affects this interaction.
Each test session involves two astronauts, one acting as the subject and
the other as the operator.

If the astronauts have the time, they can investigate any "interesting"
information identified by the ASA. They also can use the computer to note
any unusual circumstances that might affect the data collected. This will
provide Young with additional insights when he analyzes the data after the
flight.

The ASA keeps track of the time spent on the experiment. If a test session
is behind schedule, the ASA will suggest steps in the procedure to delete
with minimal effect on the collection of data.

An astronaut can ask the system to propose a new sequence of steps that
could be used to get the most and best data in the time remaining. The new
sequence takes into account the "interesting" data and results of previous
sessions.

The system also can lead an astronaut through troubleshooting, step by
step. If the problem is in a low-priority item, the system might recommend
not making the repair. Instead, the crew could use that time to get
additional data.

Colombano said his group "hopes to create a general purpose system to aid
science experiments in space." Such a system will be particularly critical
on longer missions and on the space station, he said. "It's going to be
harder and harder to train crews to do everything, so they're going to
need this kind of help a lot more."

NASA - Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, California 94035-1000

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