A systems approach for characterizing human deep space mission anomaly response capabilities and functional constraints

Human exploration of Mars and beyond will demand unprecedented levels of onboard self-sufficiency due to the exceedingly far distances from Earth and lengthy mission durations. This paradigm shift will require the development of novel anomaly response architectures to protect future crews adequately from anomalies and failures. In this paper we outline and demonstrate a process to identify and evaluate key factors that affect the anomaly response process for deep space operations. It builds on established frameworks, illustrating how incredibly complex and interdependent this activity is. Relevant factors of the current state-of-the-art anomaly response were established through a literature review in combination with an established taxonomy process. These factors were then assessed for their Earth-reliance specific attributes through a case study. In this paper we have identified over 120 relevant anomaly response factors and developed a process that allows for identifying system capabilities that need to be integrated into future habitat designs to provide a minimum level self-sufficiency to protect crews from catastrophic outcomes stemming from communications delays and compounding co-dependency of factors. While this process was demonstrated using notional Mars mission constraints and evaluated against current ISS processes as the baseline, the outlined approach can be adapted for anomaly response designs that require different forms of system autonomy by modifying the relevant mission constraints and operational capability attributes accordingly.