A Case Study of Human-in-the-loop for Telescope Operation

: This paper documents a human factors assessment performed in conjunction with a small telescope research study called GOLDS - Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) Observations with Latitudinal Diversity, Simultaneously. GOLDS included multiple distributed sites, spanning from Northern Virginia to Maui, Hawaii, collecting electro-optical data of GEO satellites using 16-20 inch diameter telescopes. Since the authors of this report were actively involved in the telescope data collection, a significant amount of this report will focus on the first-hand experiences of the Human Effectiveness Directorate team at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. In addition, human factors surveys were distributed to assess human-centric issues at the other sites. The concept of operations at each site differed in some significant ways, which itself was noteworthy, but made it difficult to formulate general recommendations. For example, some sites had a high degree of autonomy while others required constant manning of the telescope. Some relied heavily on one person to operate the telescope while others used teams. These different approaches underscore the need for organizations to have facilities and procedures tailored to their capabilities and needs.