The crewed exploration of Moon and Mars requires the construction and maintenance of infrastructure on the alien surfaces before a crew arrives. Robotic coworkers are envisioned to take over the physical labor required to set-up crew habitats, energy supplies, and return vehicles in the hazardous environment. Deploying these robots in such a remote location poses a challenge that requires autonomous robot capabilities in combination with effective Human Robot Interfaces (HRIs), which comply with the harsh conditions of deep space operations. An astronaut-robot teleoperation concept targeting these topics has been evaluated in DLR and ESA's METERON SUPVIS Justin experiment where astronauts on-board the International Space Station (ISS) commanded DLR's humanoid robot Rollin' Justin in a simulated Martian environment on Earth. This work extends on our previously presented approach to supervised autonomy. It examines the results of the two follow-up experiment sessions which investigated maintenance and assembly tasks in real-world scenarios. We discuss the use of our system in real space-to-ground deployment and analyze key performance metrics of the HRI and the feedback given by the astronauts.

As the human race expands its horizon toward a multiplanetary existence, infrastructures on the target planets have to be constructed and maintained to pave the way for humans. The support of robotic coworkers plays a key role in setting up habitats, energy supplies, and return vehicles, until the completion of such infrastructures in the hazardous planetary environment. The operation of these robots require capabilities including autonomy, communication, and human-robot interface design to meet the challenges of the harsh conditions in space deployment. This letter examines these topics through German Aerospace Center (DLR) and European Space Agency's METERON SUPVIS Justin space telerobotics experiments, during that astronauts on-board the International Space Station command DLR's humanoid robot Rollin' Justin to survey and maintain a simulated Martian solar farm on Earth. Based on the first experiments conducted on August 25, 2017, this letter discusses several astronaut-robot collaboration concepts in real space-to-ground deployment and provides preliminary insights for future manned Mars missions.