Title:
Examination of Human Performance During Lunar Landing

Thumbnail Image
Author(s)
Chua, Zarrin K.
Feigh, Karen M.
Braun, Robert D.
Authors
Advisor(s)
Advisor(s)
Editor(s)
Associated Organization(s)
Organizational Unit
Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
The Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautics was established in 1931, with a name change in 1962 to the School of Aerospace Engineering
Series
Supplementary to
Abstract
Experimentally derived data was extrapolated to compare the lunar landing performance of human pilots to that of an automated landing system.12 The results of this investigation are presented. Overall, the pilots performed equal to or better than the automated system in 18% of the relevant cases, but required more fuel. Pilot site selections were further investigated as a function of the time to complete. Each hypothetical case was compared to the automated system, across a range of performance criteria weighting distributions. This performance criteria is threefold – proximity to point of interest, safety of the site, and fuel consumed. In general, the pilots perform better than the automated system in terms of safety and proximity to points of interest criteria. However, as the priority of fuel conservation increases, the tradeoff between using an autonomous landing system versus a human-in-command system favors the automation, especially if the pilot is not able to make the proper decision within a performance criteria specific threshold.
Sponsor
Date Issued
2010-03
Extent
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Paper
Rights Statement
Unless otherwise noted, all materials are protected under U.S. Copyright Law and all rights are reserved