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The Human Research Program (HRP) was created in October 2005 at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in response to NASA's desire to move human research project management away from their Washington, D.C. headquarters to the JSC. [1]
The stated goals of the HRP are to provide knowledge and technology in order to mitigate risks to human health and performance and develop tools to enable safe and productive human space exploration. [2] The Human Research Program also aims to educate the public on the challenges of human space flight. [3]
The Human Research Roadmap (HRR) is a web-based tool that is used to communicate the content of the Integrated Research Plan (IRP). [4] The IRP is utilized to identify the approach and research activities planned to address risks to human health and performance in space which are assigned to specific elements within the program. [2]
This tool is designed to help users search for items such as gaps associated with risks, the tasks associated with a given gap, the cross-integration of a task across multiple gaps or risks, and deliverables associated with a gap or risk. [2]
Reviews of the accumulated evidence from medical records, space flight operations, and research findings are compiled into evidence reports. This evidence provides the basis for identifying the highest priority of risks to humans in space exploration, which comprise the risk portfolio within the HRP. It also provides the basis for identifying gaps and tasks in the research plan. [2]
Risks include the physiological effects of radiation, low gravity, terrestrial environments as well as unique challenges in medical support, human factors, and behavioral health support. Risks are identified in the Program Requirements Document (PRD) and assigned to an element within HRP to quantify, mitigate or monitor. [2]
For each risk, the HRP attempts to identify gaps in knowledge about the risk and the ability to mitigate the risk. The degree of uncertainty in understanding the likelihood, consequence, and/or time frame of a particular risk are the major factors that drive the gaps. Gaps in knowledge or risk mitigation often appear in multiple risks, and many of the specific research tasks address multiple gaps. [2]
Tasks partially or completely close a gap by better defining a risk or developing mitigation strategies to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. In some cases, a task can address multiple gaps across multiple risks. [2]
Each task culminates in a deliverable or other agreed-upon end-product such as recommended standards, flight rules, processes, countermeasures and new technologies. [2]
There are currently seven elements in the HRP: [5]
Risk management is the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities.
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Risk assessment determines possible mishaps, their likelihood and consequences, and the tolerances for such events. The results of this process may be expressed in a quantitative or qualitative fashion. Risk assessment is an inherent part of a broader risk management strategy to help reduce any potential risk-related consequences.
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Astronautical hygiene evaluates, and mitigates, hazards and health risks to those working in low-gravity environments. The discipline of astronautical hygiene includes such topics as the use and maintenance of life support systems, the risks of the extravehicular activity, the risks of exposure to chemicals or radiation, the characterization of hazards, human factor issues, and the development of risk management strategies. Astronautical hygiene works side by side with space medicine to ensure that astronauts are healthy and safe when working in space.
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