Developing Operational Procedures and Experimental Design for the Lunar Agriculture Module-Reduced Gravity Simulator (LAM-RGS)

Resilient bioregenerative life support systems (BLSS) are crucial for sustainable human missions to the Moon. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is developing the Lunar Agriculture Module (LAM) to enable reliable food production on the lunar surface. However, optimizing the LAM design requires understanding the impact of lunar gravity (0.16g) on human factors—such as ergonomics, crew time, and workload—during Intravehicular Activities (IVAs), a knowledge gap currently limiting mission planning. To address this, DLR is developing the Lunar Agriculture Module – Reduced Gravity Simulator (LAM-RGS), a mixed-reality platform combined with a gravity offloading system. This paper details the methodological framework for defining operational activities and designing experiments, which is core to the initial phase of LAM-RGS research. Specifically, drawing from EDEN ISS mission experience and employing Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) combined with taxonomy-based clustering, it describes the methodology used to define and structure the activities required for LAM operations. Furthermore, it presents the resulting Baseline Operational Task Taxonomy—a hierarchical list and description of anticipated operational activities derived from this methodology. Building upon this taxonomy, the paper proposes a methodology for developing a Functional Task Battery (FTB) by selecting core tasks that warrant validation in reduced gravity; this selection process will utilize 1G virtual reality (VR) simulations and multi-metric analysis (including task efficiency, biomechanics, workload, and criticality). The task taxonomy and FTB development methodology proposed herein are planned for validation through experimental campaigns using the LAM-RGS between 2025 and 2027. This research aims to refine operational models, support the optimization of LAM's internal design for human-system interaction, enhance crew performance by mitigating intravehicular stressors, and contribute empirical data to human factors design standards for future infrastructure under partial gravity conditions.