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"Handling qualities" describe the ease and precision with which a pilot can execute a flying task and depend upon numerous factors, including vehicle response, guidance cues, and inceptors. Comprehensive handling qualities standards exist for aircraft, but to date, no such standard has been developed for space vehicles. To this end, NASA has initiated an effort to develop a handling qualities standard for piloted spacecraft, beginning with a lunar lander study conducted at Ames' Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) in May 2007.
Using an Apollo-era lunar lander as both a math model and physical model, pilots began each simulated moon landing at "low gate": 1350 feet horizontally and 500 feet vertically from the landing site, traveling at 60 feet per second horizontally and –16 feet per second vertically. A high-resolution lunar surface was created as a visual scene and included a landing pad for pilots to target during their descents (Figure 1). During the landing task, pilots (including test pilots and NASA astronauts; Figure 2) were presented with combinations of vehicle control power (i.e., levels of acceleration) and guidance (either "on" or "off") and asked to give Cooper-Harper and Task Load Index (TLX) ratings of the task upon completion of each set of three runs. This study provided an excellent opportunity to evaluate the vehicle model, and the data collected are an important first step in NASA's spacecraft handling qualities effort.
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Figure 1. Landing site for lunar lander in the VMS visual scene
Figure 2. A pilot operating the lunar lander in the VMS |
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