Hi, I’m Brad. This is my portfolio.

Mars Mission Planning

Overview: Working with a group of 4 other masters students, I helped research, design, build, and test an interactive prototype to support manned missions to Mars.

Problem: For our MHCI Capstone Project, the HCI Group at NASA Ames asked us to explore the effects of communication latency on planning during manned missions to Mars.

Solution: To study the problem, we built a working system to support planning, scheduling, and communication between agents in a simulated Mars extra-vehicular activity (EVA). One especially interesting method we used was the operational readiness test—a rigorous test where trained participants use our system to engage in a simulated EVA.

January 2009 – August 2009
Client: NASA Ames HCI Group
Team of 5

  • Final Deliverables:
  • Working Software
  • Video Demo
  • Report
  • Presentation
  • Project Website
  • During the project, I...
  • Coordinated 9 user interviews, 5 contextual inquiries, and 8 think-aloud usability tests.
  • Created training and testing protocol for operational readiness tests.
  • Coordinated 3 operational readiness tests with 16 users.
  • Served as point of contact for clients.
  • Participated in design critiques.