Improve Your Voice Communication Skills – GSOC’S Tool for Individual Learning

Kurzfassung

Voice communication is widely used in space operations. The rules and guidelines are based on aviation and military communications. They are the cornerstone of communication in space operations as they help to ensure reliable and unambiguous information exchange for real-time operational environments. Especially when the protagonists of launches are spread across multiple locations or even continents, a basic communication protocol is crucial for the successful completion of missions. At the German Space Operations Center (GSOC), ambitions rose to improve voice communication training to maintain a high level of proficiency even during prolonged periods of low activity in the control room. For this a voice loop communication training tool has been developed. It enables individualized training without dependencies on the schedule of the control room, the mission or the support team. In addition, this setup allows for more accurate monitoring of the learning progress, as the application points out errors continuously and more reliably than the current group training sessions. It is envisioned to create an easily accessible environment to learn the basics as well as various advanced concepts of communication in space flight operations on an individual level. The first step of this program is based on the survey platform LimeSurvey, which is used as an e-learning platform. The training will be divided into several lessons representing different skill levels and tailored to the intended short and concise training program. The new opportunities for individualized training that supports each control room crewmember's schedule should initiate the evolution towards a comprehensive distribution of extensive and well-maintained skills applicable to a wide variety of satellite missions. In this paper, the overall educational concept and its arrangement for different target groups and training purposes is presented, as well as the question types training the standards for voice communication that are intended to be established. As the tool is already in the evaluation phase, initial experiences of student groups using the program to support the conventional training will also be analyzed. After a final testing phase, the tool will become part of the advanced operations courses offered at GSOC.