KNaCK LIDAR Technology Demonstration at 5th Joint EVA Test Team (JETT5) Field Compaign, Flagstaff, Arizona

Michael Zanetti (ST13), Kyle Miller (EV42), and Chris Whetsel (ES52) conducted a technology demonstration and field work with the NASA JSC 5th Joint EVA Test Team (JETT-3) from 5/17-23/24, near SP Crater, Flagstaff, AZ. JETT5 tested full-up mission operations with communication to JSC-Houston, and included astronauts Kate Rubins and Andre Douglas testing ATLAS suits and 4-6 hr. planned traverses near SP-Crater – a former Apollo astronaut geology training site. The Kinematic Navigation and Cartography Knapsack (KNaCK) team members were invited to demonstrate GPS-denied navigation solutions using our person-mounted velocity-sensing LiDAR sensors that provide local position and a ground-track in addition to terrain mapping capabilities using terrain relative navigation and LiDAR SLAM algorithms. KNaCK tests were designed to provide a real-time ground-track to the Joint Augmented Reality (JointAR/JARVIS) heads-up display suit from NASA JSC. Our technology demo had Astronaut Kate Rubins in the JARVIS suit receiving real-time updates of her traverse path. KNaCK provided flawless positioning for 75% of the traverse, with ~2 m local accuracy compared to GPS. The remaining 25% of the run was impacted by algorithm issues in perfectly flat terrain (a rare issue, likely only on Earth, causing 3 restarts to reacquire an accurate ground-track). Overall, the KNaCK tech demo mission was a big success, with Kate Rubins noting Navigation accuracy reducing mental overhead and decreasing traverse time to sampling stations “Definitely giving me what I need. Pretty Cool!”

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