Carnegie Mellon University
2024
MoonRanger: Designing Mission Control Telemetry for a NASA Lunar Rover
Transforming chaotic raw terminal data into an intuitive, high-reliability interface for NASA and Carnegie Mellon University’s 2029 lunar mission.
Overview
Mission Control Software (MCS) UX updates for error-free troubleshooting
Partnered with Carnegie Mellon University on NASA’s MoonRanger mission to circumnavigate the Moon’s north pole. Because future mission operators won’t be the engineers who built the rover, the system required an intuitive interface to monitor live telemetry, track instrument status, and execute rapid troubleshooting under extreme operational constraints
Test rover at CMU's Space Robotics Lab
Problem
Drowning in Raw Terminal Chaos
Operators were forced to monitor telemetry through a raw terminal window streaming hundreds of data lines per second for multiple instruments simultaneously in a jumbled list. In a high-stakes mission control environment, there was no clear visual cue to alert operators when an instrument malfunctioned or went offline.
Terminal window with incoming telemetry logs
Insight
Telemetry logs are important only when an instrument is inactive or malfunctioning
After interviewing an Iris rover operator, I learned that instrument health takes priority over continuous log monitoring. Since logs are only needed on demand, I challenged their default visibility to reduce clutter.
Interface Structure
Shifted the telemetry approach from dense logs to instrument-first health monitoring by structuring information into a clear 3-tier hierarchy:
Level 1: Surfaces all instruments with real-time status indicators (active, inactive, error)
Level 2: Provides date- and time-filtered log views
Level 3 :Delivers granular log details
Designs
High-Reliability Telemetry & Instant Instrument Drill-Downs
The re-architected telemetry view visually distinguishes every onboard instrument, providing clear, real-time indicators for active, inactive, and error states. A seamless drill-down capability allows operators to inspect detailed rover logs instantly, and integrates smoothly into the existing mission control design system.
Each Instrument and it's status is clearly visible to the Operator
The operator can select any instrument and filter each log sent by the rover for targeted troubleshooting
Impact
Fast Troubleshooting for High-Stakes Lunar Decisions
Replaced cognitive overload with clear, actionable status visualization - empowering mission control operators to troubleshoot faults instantly and make critical, time-sensitive decisions regarding the rover's trajectory and mission pivots.
Dr. Heather Jones, Senior Project Scientist for MoonRanger, tests the Telemetry Dashboard in the Mission Control Room at CMU
Opportunity to showcase the Mission Control Software to Google CEO Sundar Pichai
Want to know the messy part? (How we handled real-time telemetry latency constraints, and translated raw string data into a clean operational UI?) Let's chat!
hiremath.rishikesh@gmail.com
