Description: Situational Awareness is the key element of performing safe and effective operations, and the space vehicle operations carried out by NASA is by no means an exception to the rule. Astronauts and flight controllers need to maintain awareness of the situation in the space vehicles, robots, habitats, Mission Control Center, and other systems. NASA has devoted and continues to devote a significant amount of resources to software for displaying the current situation in order to maintain this awareness. However, astronauts and flight controllers need to predict the future state of the systems for themselves. What will happen next? Resources have now advanced to the point where it is possible to inform the astronauts and flight controllers of the expected situation in the near future, and also to warn them if the current situation does not match the expectations of the recent pastthis will indicate a developing issue that requires attention. All of this will aid in reducing the cognitive load on the astronauts and flight controllers, and help them perform their work safely and effectively. S&K Aerospace, LLC (SKA) proposes to research and develop a system that will provide predictive situational awareness to flight controllers and astronauts, by bringing together information about the current state of the vehicles and other systems, the activities planned in the near future, and the expected state of the system in the future, as well as an indication if the current state of the system matches planned state. This system will be called the Predictive System Awareness Tool, or PSAT.

Benefits: As autonomous planning software is used more widely, this technology will follow along, supporting the users of autonomous software, supporting their decision-making, and enabling them to trust and rely on planning and other autonomous software to produce a reliable product. We foresee that autonomous software will begin to penetrate the marketplace within the next few years, creating a valuable opportunity for this technology. By placing ourselves on the cutting edge, S&K Aerospace will be in an excellent position to exploit the newly developing markets.

The NASA applications for this technology include decision support for the flight controllers in the Mission Control Center and an improved level of trust in autonomous software used in the MCC. This technology will provide the flight controllers with improved situational awareness, by providing them information about predicted future events and situations in the vehicles and systems that they are monitoring. This will enable them to work more efficiently and safely, by giving them the information they need to make informed decisions. At the same time, this technology will give the flight controllers more visibility into the workings of autonomous software, especially the planning software, which will help them to trust the software and the plans that the software produces.