Kontur-3: Human Machine Interfaces for Telenavigation and Manipulation of Robots from ISS

Space agencies are planning crewed lunar and Mars exploration missions to be realized within the next decade [1]. Sending humans directly to the surface of the celestial bodies is, however, extremely dangerous and costly. Therefore, humans will teleoperate robots from an orbital spacecraft to explore the surface, acquire samples and to construct habitats. In the German-Russian Kontur-2 space project (2012–2017), the basic telerobotic scenario was realized, i.e. cosmonauts located in an orbiter (ISS) controlled robotic systems on a planet (Earth) with a force feedback joystick. This paper presents the planned experiments and Human Machine Interface (HMI) devices for the Kontur-3 space project, which is a follow-up project of Kontur-2. The paper reports the main technical achievements and human factors results of the Kontur-2 project and, the need for more effective HMI devices to be developed in Kontur-3. The preparations for the ISS experiments with the newly developed devices would bring new insights to the research community and can also become a major contribution to the planning, development and implementation of future space missions.