Preventing ”The Martian” :

ENGINEERING & HUMAN-SYSTEM RESILIENCE

Presentation by Nathan A. Sonnenfeld for the really cool

IEEE students!

Overview•What can we learn from Mark Watney’s fictional isolation on Mars?• Sources of system failure• System capabilities that allow human resilience• Engineering solutions to the severity of isolation on Mars

Sources of System Failure• Lack of Foresight• MAV/HAB not designed for max winds

on Mars?• Comms equipment? …Natural wind-shielding?• 3 Ares missions and no aeroponic

‘greenhouse’?• Ares missions without interplanetary

internet?• No delay-tolerant network (DTN) WiFi?

• No ready back-up supply ships?

Ridley Scott

Sources of System Failure• Lack of Redundancy• Communications Equipment• 1 HAB comm dish? Reception ant?• Handling Critical Failures• One MAV? All backup systems?• One type of power source? • No HAB weather radar?

Ridley Scott

Sources of System Failure• Lack of Follow-Up• 2 months for satellite images•Due to organization failure• Also contributes to inability of NASA rescue

Ridley Scott

System Capabilities for Human Resilience

Consistency• Consistency of mechanical

parts allows for Mark’s resilience via system modification• Enable users to

customize systems for unintended purposes

Redundancy• Extra resources allowed

Mark’s resilience

System Capabilities for Human Resilience

Iterative Testing• Mark’s approach to iterative

testing saved his life numerous times• HAB explosion, rover mods,

etc.• Iterative testing needed in

every stage of the product life-cycle• Including the unintended

hacking stage!

SPACE PIRATE!

Engineering Solutions to Isolation on Mars

1) Design for the Environment-And use env. to support design

2) Make Food Production Priority-Automated Aeroponics. ‘Nuff said.

3) Make Comms a Priority-Interplanetary DTN-Comms should be so stable before we get there, that astronaut can Tweet

4) Extra Supplies-Litter the LZs with them, ahead of time.We will use all of it.

5) Redundancy-Extra MAVs | extra comms-Mars weather-radar?-Wind/Sandstorm power generators?

6) Consistency-Make everything from same parts

6) Iterative Design-Always test everything; use HF experts

THANK YOU!!!!!!ENJOY THE MOVIE!!!!!