Human Systems Integration of an Extravehicular Activity Space Suit Augmented Reality Display System

During an extravehicular activity (EVA), the role of an astronaut involves a multitude of complex tasks. Whether that task is a science experiment aboard the International Space Station, or traversing extraterrestrial terrain – attention, communication, and instruction are essential. As an aid, augmented reality (AR) can portray suit informatics and procedures within line-of-sight while minimizing attentional loss. Currently, there exists little research highlighting the human systems considerations to qualify AR systems for space suit applications. This study quantifies user interface (UI) and human performance measures for an AR prototype on the Mark III space suit. For user testing, 21 military pilots and personnel (11 men, 10 women) evaluated UI search tasks and completed a series of AR-instructed EVA dexterity tasks in an elevated luminosity, background clutter, and workload scenario. UI results suggest correlations for readability and usability; whereas, human performance results provide situational awareness, workload, and task performance data