Habot Lunar Crew Size, Skill Mix, and Time Model 2005-01-2792

This study presents a projected crew task timeline and skill mix for the exploration of the lunar surface in the Habot mobile lunar habitat. It takes the approach of defining crew task sets for crews of 8, 6, and 4, crewmembers to carry out proportionate amounts of work, corresponding to how many crewmembers are on the mission. It provides for the division of responsibilities between crewmembers who perform EVA and IVA tasks, and between those who go on an excursion away from the base and those who remain at the base.

A particular feature of the model is that the amount of time devoted to science is set as a constant -- an inviolable amount of crew time that normal maintenance and operations work cannot erode. The importance of this capability arises from the International Space Station experience in which sometimes only 100 crew-minutes per day, or even less, has been available for science. The way the model handles this constant is that the amount of time available for maintenance, housekeeping and routine tasks must become flexible to accommodate the science requirements. The most important output of the model is that it suggests the degree to which it will be necessary to design routine tasks for automation and robotics, to free up and protect crew time to perform those high level scientific functions that only the human can perform.