Still from ATV training. Credits: ESA

Still from ATV training. Credits: ESA

Astronaut teachers are always looking for ways to improve their training, and the International Training Control Board (ITCB) is looking for ways to reduce the time spent training astronauts on ground and replace it with efficient “On-Board Training”.

As part of this initiative, Andreas Mogensen will test an upgraded version of ESA’s 3D virtual training software that allows astronauts to run through tasks step-by-step with 3D graphics. This experiment is called 3D Visual Training, or 3DViT for short, but the software was already used before on the International Space Station to remind astronauts of procedures for Europe’s largest spacecraft ATV.

Interact Centaur rover

Interact Centaur rover

The technology behind the experiment has improved but is still similar to the link above. The main difference this time is that 3DViT will be used by Andreas for a procedure he has not trained for before. Andreas will use 3DViT to setup the Haptics/Interact experiment with no prior information. If the experiment is successful the “just-in-time” training could be used more in the future to save time for astronauts.

A second difference is that the training now integrates better with the International Space Station’s server and will be beamed directly to Andreas’s tablet and access data directly from the Station’s International Procedure Viewer. Lastly the content was produced by the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, directly this time instead of being outsourced.

The content is awaiting a final review and technical check by NASA as sending the content to tablets is a new operation and never been done on the International Space Station before.

Once Andreas gets started, setting up the Haptics/Interact should take 35 minutes with 20 minutes spent for the onboard training. Once done, Andreas will fill out a questionnaire to help the engineers and designers assess 3D ViT’s use.

You can try out the ATV training yourself with the right web browser or phone app. For details see this post on the ATV blog.