June 11, 2012

Joshua Buck Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 jbuck@nasa gov

Brandi Dean Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 brandi k dean@nasa gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-111

MEDIA INVITED TO NASA'S NEWEST COMMUNICATIONS-DELAY TESTS

HOUSTON -- NASA is preparing to move exploration beyond Earth's orbit, but communication delays will change how the agency conducts its missions Reporters can see for themselves how NASA is planning for that change through NASA's newest test project, the Autonomous Mission Operations (AMO) Journalists are invited to watch the simulations at 3 p m CDT Thursday, June 14 at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston

NASA's Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket, which currently are in development, will move humans farther away from low Earth orbit than ever before These greater distances will cause communications delays to increase Tasks that once were the responsibility of flight controllers in mission control will shift to the crews aboard Orion AMO will investigate various ways astronauts and flight controllers can work through this challenge

Reporters will meet members of one of the crews involved in the test and their support team They also will tour the Deep Space Habitat, which is being used for the simulation, and the supporting control room To participate in the activities, reporters should contact Brandi Dean at brandi k dean@nasa gov by 5 p m Wednesday, June 13

The tests will simulate the return from a 30-day exploration of a near-Earth asteroid, which is part of a larger 386-day mission Crews consisting of one astronaut and three flight controllers will perform simulated tasks under varying time delays -- 1 2 seconds, 50 seconds and 5 minutes, one way -- that impede to differing degrees real-time conversations with mission control They will communicate through and evaluate the effectiveness of voice, text and video messages; written questionnaires; and computer timeline tools The results should help identify the best communications tools for future exploration missions

The AMO project is part of NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Program consisting of small projects aimed at rapidly developing and demonstrating prototype systems for future human spaceflight missions Projects in the program will help reduce risk, lower cost and test concepts for future human missions beyond Earth orbit

For updates on testing and interviews with members of the Autonomous Mission Operations research team, visit:

http://www facebook com/NASA AMO

For more information on Advanced Exploration Systems and Autonomous Mission Operations, visit:

http://www nasa gov/directorates/heo/aes/index html

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