Deep-Space Human Exploration | Dr. Darlene Lim | Talks at Google

Delays, for better or worse, are a part of life. We all cope with them as best we can, trying to minimize their impact on our well-being and productivity. But what if you are an astronaut, 45 million kilometers from Earth, conducting science on an asteroid, and your communications link to Earth includes a 50-second one-way delay that you must always contend with?

To help answer this question, the Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP) and other NASA "analog missions" are exploring how to perform field science with time-delayed communications. These studies are helping NASA to assess the impact of such delays on scientific productivity, mission operations and software systems. The PLRP field program involves a mix of single-person "DeepWorker" submersibles, SCUBA divers, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, and Remotely Operated Vehicles, which are used to gather science data and to test exploration concepts for coping with communication delays.

Dr. Darlene Lim is a geobiologist and an expert in the development of concepts for human scientific exploration. She has spent over two decades leading field research around the world, including the Arctic, the Antarctic, and various underwater environments (where she has spent many hours piloting submersibles as a scientist and explorer). Darlene is also Founder of the Haven House Family Shelter "STEM Explorers' Speakers Series", which brings NASA and academic researchers to homeless children in the Bay Area.