Context

This project addresses the challenge of Earth to Mars communication. The physical limitations force us to work around the problem of delayed communication. Currently, the NASA mission commands are loaded in advance and the spacecrafts have a high degree of autonomy. For example, the Curiosity Rover was on autopilot for its landing and this was the safest way to do it. However, if you fast-forward into the future, when we will make our first colonisation attempts, the needs will shift and we will seek coordination and more flexibility.

What is Tandem?

Tandem is a management system for missions in outer space. It builds decision trees and allows for visualisation of the events that occur during the mission. Time is a crucial factor in these missions and influence decisions, so it is also represented in the graph. Furthermore, there is a mission log, that records all the events that happen during a mission and allow for continuous monitoring of missions. Data that can be leveraged for post-mission evaluation. Our app allows for agile coordination of assets, mission guidance, problem reporting, documenting and data visualisation. It takes into account the time delay between Earth and Mars, the data rate and the relay which is transmitting to you and indicates the earliest moment that the field worker can receive instructions. On the receiving end, the person or machine doing the field work, is guided by standard protocols and can exchange events and event sets with mission control, that can represent a protocol or a problem, for example.

Impact

There are a multitude of applications for our system. Firstly, in the near future, we can see this system being used to practice missions and to explore the challenges that arise in a delayed communication scenario. The actor can be a person or a machine doing a specific task on Mars. The conclusions of these practices can be used for training of AI-based decision making systems and people alike.In the future, when we will begin terraforming and colonising Mars, the system will serve as a planning and reporting tool to coordinate collective efforts. The decision trees will serve as guidelines for the actors on Mars and mission control can monitor the progress, assign issues and intervene in extraordinary situations. This application will fast-track the learning curve and optimise the processes on the journey of colonising Mars.

Special conditions

The objective was to design an interactive app to explore the communication challenges between Earth and astronauts on Mars. Based on the research conducted we made some assumptions and we showcased some aspects of this challenges.

Showcase:

1. We obtained the delay between Earth and Mars and displayed it in the web app and we constructed our decision tree around it. Operators can automatically see the earliest intervention point in the standard protocol.
2. We can see the current antenna that receives information from the Mars missions. The DSN antennas are distributed in three locations on the globe to offer better coverage.
3. If the live-connection is lost to the current satellite systems, the system will display that information to mission control, signalling the fact that you are unable to reach Mars.
4. The operator can toggle between DSN (current communication system) and DSOC (new communication system that allows higher data transmission rates) display.

Assumptions:

1. Considering the fact that we are bound by the laws of physics, communications will have to be delivered in packages. This is why we chose the decision trees as communication units.
2. The system will have protocols and it will be populated with standard decision sets for multiple scenarios.
3. The actors on Mars will be trained in their respective field and they will have experience in working with the system.
4. By the time the system will be implemented on Mars, the main role for this application will be one of reporting and continuous monitorisation. Mission control will only intervene in extraordinary situations.
5. The communication system between the two planets will be the DSOC or a more advanced technology. The higher bandwidth will make monitorisation and data exchange more efficient.
6. Evidence show that the communication systems on Mars will work with both radio and optical means. So, solutions implemented on Earth are good candidates for surface communication on Mars (see later in the sources section).
7. There is a relay system analog to the TDRS (used to facilitate communication between the ISS and Earth in real time) used to transfer information from Mars to a satellite, which will send data back to Earth.

Scenario

The web app represents mission control and it has an overview of all active actors on Mars, the activities that they are doing and the events that happen during these activities. These activities and events are represented as decision trees in the system. When monitoring or intervening in a case the operator has a clear visual time-centric representation of all the decisions in the respective set and he can send additional instructions in the node where he can extend or modify the protocol. Possible actions: assign activity to worker, monitor progress in the active decision trees, send decision tree extension, send absolute decision path, receive media, inspect mission log, see mission metadata, etc.The mobile app is the actor from Mars, who will receive his activities from mission control. This will act as his guide for the mission. In the ideal case, the AI system will have been already trained to suggest the optimal decisions. Other possible actions: see mission metadata, see personal activity log, construct new protocol, send media, call support, etc.