>> This is Mission Control, Houston,
so Expedition 40 crew currently on board.
Station crews typically training for an average
of about two years ahead
of their six-month voyages on orbit.
NASA always looking to better prepare the astronauts
for their time in space,
and also better prepare the agency itself
for future missions, not only to the station, but as we look
to go even further into deep space.
One training method known as an analog, where we're able
to simulate some of the environments
that astronauts will see
in these isolated deep space situations is called NEEMO,
or the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations,
where astronauts from around the globe will go down to Aquarius,
which is 60 feet underwater off the Florida coast.
One NEEMO mission just wrapped up in July,
another one scheduled to begin just coming
up soon in September.
This one will be commanded
by NASA veteran astronaut Randy Bresnik.
Randy joining me here now inside of Mission Control.
Randy, thanks so much for joint me, really appreciate it.
Good to see you here this morning.
So first off, start us off, so this is going to be NEEMO 19.
Give us a little bit of background real quick
on your mission that's coming up.
>> Yeah, NEEMO 19, we actually splash down on the eighth
of September for a seven-day mission.
And we're going to build on what was done earlier this summer
with NEEMO, NEEMO 18.
The NEEMO team works really well every year, diligently,
to try and get analogs and fill in the gaps
between what we know now and what we maybe might want to do
with the exploration missions in the future.
And so it's really good because we can simulate zero gravity,
we can simulate partial gravity, like the moon.
We can simulate Mars' gravity, you know,
maybe asteroid microgravity with the weigh-outs in the suits.
So we can actually check the equipment out.
We can check the processes out.
We can check out working with Mission Control.
And one of the highlights of this particular one is we'll be
on a time delay, simulating that we have a communication, see,
because we're a long ways away from home.
So how do we work operationally through our spacewalks
when we do have to deal with --
we send a transmission
and we don't hear anything back for 10 minutes?
>> So there's going to be that long of a delay.
So what kind of a mission is that kind of simulating?
Is that like you guys are on Mars?
Is that you guys are on an asteroid?
What is that [inaudible]?
>> It's somewhere in between Mars and here.
If I'm correct, I think Mars is a 20-minute
with current technology.
Now, maybe with NASA and some of the stuff we're working,
we're able to come up with a better communications technology
that cuts down that kind of delay.
So.
>> Okay, and very much like the International Space Station,
it's an international crew that's going to be
down there at Aquarius.
Tell us a little about the guys and girls that are going
to be going down with you.
>> We've got a really great crew.
We've got Andy Mogensen, who's the very first Danish astronaut.
And he's actually participated in some
of the NEEMO-like training last year.
So he's kind of a veteran in that regard.
But he's the super-smart guy.
He's the PhD type who used to -- got into navigation design.
>> He's the brains of the group.
>> Yes. He's the brains of the outfit.
But he's actually flying next September
on a Soyuz crew with Sarah Brightman.
So he'll at least have some decent music on his flight.
But super-smart guy; a really good operator,
and so we're lucky to have him.
We also have Herve Stevenin who is the lead
for what is ESA's European astronaut training center,
underwater training facility.
So their NBL, he's one of our crew members.
And the neat part of that is he's also one of the Eurocoms.
So he'll sit in the Capcom slot over there in Europe.
And, you know, what we're able to help him do is now --
and this is his first chance to act as an operator.
And so ideally, by learning to be a better operator,
he can then be a better capsule communicator
and help [inaudible] control, exactly.
And then we have Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen,
also known as Weed.
Again, another great operator.
Really smart on the robotics side of things,
being a Canadian and the robotic arm.
But also an even funnier guy than Chris Hadfield,
so we're really lucky to have him along for comedic relief.
>> That'll be good when you're, you know,
60 feet under the water.
Lighten the spirits a little bit.
And robotics are going to play a big role in this --
some telepresence and that kind of thing.
So can you tell me a little bit about that?
>> Yeah, it's really neat objectives.
There's a program that's called Head's Up,
which the ESA is sponsoring.
And Herve, our crew member,
is actually one of the program leads.
And it allows basically mobile procedure viewing.
So all the times, you know, when you look here
on the screen behind us and you see the crew doing work
on station, you seem them hands in and working
and they may have their head lamp on,
you'll always see them pop back out and you'll see them look
up on a tablet, or look up on a computer screen,
or have to reach their hand out and type to move the screen.
>> "What am I doing?"
>> Yeah, exactly.
And so what this ideally is, with the Heads Up device
that we'll be wearing, we'll be able to not have
to take our eyes or hands off the project, and we'll be able
to get, you know, either the procedures, you know,
viewed on a Heads Up display.
We'll also maybe be able to work on more of the telepresence type
of operations where the ground through a camera on a Heads
Up display will be able to see what we're doing,
and then offer suggestions, you know,
kind of helping us looking over the shoulder.
All in an effort to be more efficient, you know,
in the work we do, and more precise.
>> Alright.
And NEEMO's not the only analog that you've been involved in.
Another one was CAVEs.
And forgive me; I don't remember what the acronym stands for.
There are way too many at NASA.
Tell me a little about CAVEs.
First, what does it stand for?
>> CAVEs, it was a cooperative behavioral health-type thing.
Forgive me, I can't remember the acronym exactly myself.
My friends at ESA came up with that one.
So NASA cannot claim responsibility for that.
But it was actually at the cape complexes in Sardinia in Italy.
And I was part of the --
fortunate enough to be part of the first expedition in 2011
when we went over there.
And it really was a phenomenal analog.
You know, we try and get the environment
such that people can train there and get some sort
of the sensations and feelings and operational, you know,
concerns that we have up in space so that once they get
to space, it's that much easier, because they've sort
of been there a little bit before.
So previously we'd always been in a partnership
with the National Outdoor Leadership School, NOLS.
This CAVEs was the ESA addition to the suite of analogs.
Obviously NEEMO's been a very important one for, you know,
almost 20 years now here at NASA.
And CAVEs was great, because you're underground, number one.
You don't have the sun.
So you have no idea what time it is,
just like on the space station,
where you have 16 sunrises and sunsets everyday.
The temperature and humidity are exactly the same,
all of the time, just like on the space station.
You're sitting there, you've got tethers and climbing equipment,
because there's chasms and places --
you know, there's the constant fear of death.
And you have to all the times be, you know,
worried about your tether protocols and things like that.
Just like you do on a space walk.
You have to take care of your own bodily functions,
and bring that out with you.
And take care of it, just like we do up on the space station.
>> So a lot of parallels.
>> A lot of parallels.
And it was really -- the most amazing part was the fact
that it's an environment that you've never been in before.
And as you can see from the pictures that they displayed,
absolutely gorgeous, and just amazing.
And we were actually mapping out parts of the cave complex
that have never been mapped before.
And so there was that excitement of, "Okay, we're going to go
through this little squeeze area.
And we have no idea what's on the other side.
It could end up being nothing.
Or it could end up being a cavern,
and an amazing basketball stadium-sized room underground
that you're now mapping out and trying to find out where
to continue on the rest of your exploration.
And so there was really a good sense of that feeling
that we'd have if we were on another terrestrial body,
where it's different, it's new, and no one's ever been there.
>> Alright.
Well, and then so, back to NEEMO real quick.
A big piece is going to be spacewalking.
Now, we train for spacewalks here underwater at the NBL.
And you guys are going to be doing some spacewalks
when you're out there, you know, down in Florida.
What are you guys going to be doing out in the water?
I know that's probably one of the more exciting things.
[Inaudible]
>> Definitely that fills the majority
of our days while we're down there.
We have some really neat technology demonstrators
that help us fill in the gap.
We know that we -- robotics is really good.
And we've had some phenomenal robotic work --
just look at the Mars robotic effort we've had so far.
And we also know that people can do good work.
But the robotics stuff that's on Mars,
although they have phenomenal work, we also know
that in a year or two that, you know one of the rovers has been
out there, that's the work
that a human could do in a day or two.
And so what could we do to use our robotics
to go out as precursors?
So imagine we land humans on Mars.
And we've got five, 10 robots we can send out to areas
of interest that our researchers want us to look at.
They take a look and send back the information.
And the astronauts or, you know, Mission Control,
they look at that data and go, "Well,
these don't really look that promising.
These two do.
So we'll go ahead and, you know, go look over there."
Well, we've got a system now
for NEEMO 19 called the diver delivery system.
Shark Marine makes that.
And it is actually going to allow us to go out and try
to fill that gap and see
if we can really use these robotics as we'd like.
As so we'll send them out on a mission.
They can be sent out autonomously,
or they can carry an astronaut with them,
if we want to use them as transport.
They have a navigation system.
They have cameras on board.
They can hover on one spot.
And we'll use those in combination
with actually an autonomous ROV, autonomous robot with cameras,
the IV, or the internal vehicle astronaut
or aquanaut will be able to fly as a robotic camera.
And use those as a way to see
if we can use these robotic-type things to act
and get us into the right spots.
Obviously we'll be compounded by the fact
that we have that com delay.
So we'll have to have a really good idea what the intent is
for Mission Control, so that we don't end up sitting
around waiting for a transmission to come back.
We find something we don't expect
or find something we don't like, or we'll be able to go, "Okay,
we know our priorities.
Move to the next site."
Send one of our robots over there to take a look
and get it ready for us.
>> It's a really great way to prepare us for the missions
of tomorrow by doing stuff right here in our own backyard.
Really fascinating stuff.
Or right -- yeah.
Or right under our backyard.
Alright, again, NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, who is going
to be the commander of NEEMO 19, joining me here
in Mission Control today.
Randy, thanks so much.
Fascinating stuff.
Good luck on the mission.
Watch out for hurricanes.
>> Thank you very much. ------------------------------eb635806470b--