by In the coming years, NASA aims to land humans on the Moon, establish a lunar colony and use the lessons learned to send humans to Mars as part of its Artemis program.
While researchers know that space travel can stress space crew members physically and mentally and test their ability to work together in close quarters, missions to Mars will increase those challenges. Mars is far away – millions of miles from Earth – and a mission to the red planet will take two to two and a half years, between travel time and exploration of the surface of Mars itself.
As a psychiatrist who has studied space crew interactions in orbit, I am interested in the stressors that will occur during a mission to Mars and how to mitigate them for the benefit of future space travelers.
Delayed communication
Because of the great distance to Mars, two-way communication between team members and Earth will take about 25 minutes round trip. This delayed home encounter will not only hurt the morale of the team members. It would probably mean that space crews won’t get as much real-time help from Mission Control during on-board emergencies.
Because these communications travel at the speed of light and cannot go faster, experts are finding ways to improve communication efficiency under time-delayed conditions. These solutions may include texting, periodic summarization of topics and encouraging participants to ask questions at the end of each message, which the respondent can answer during the next message.
Autonomous conditions
Space crew members will not be able to communicate with Mission Control in real time to plan their schedules and activities, so they will have to do their work more independently than the astronauts working in orbit on the International Space Station.
Although studies during space simulations on Earth have suggested that crew members can still achieve mission goals under highly autonomous conditions, researchers need to learn more about how these conditions affect crew member interactions and on their relationship with Mission Control.
For example, Mission Control personnel typically advise crew members on how to deal with problems or emergencies in real time. That will not be an option during a mission to Mars.
To study this challenge back on Earth, scientists could run a series of simulations in which crew members have different levels of contact with Mission Control. They could then see what happens to the interactions between crew members and their ability to engage and perform their duties productively.
Team member tension
Being confined to a small group of people for a long period of time can lead to interpersonal tension and conflict.
In my research team’s studies of in-orbit crews, we found that crew members can displace this tension when experiencing interpersonal stress in space by blaming Mission Control for scheduling problems or not offering enough support. This can lead to team misunderstandings and hurt feelings.
One way to deal with interpersonal tensions on board is to schedule time each week for team members to discuss interpersonal conflicts during planned “bull sessions”. We have found that supportive commanders can improve team cohesion. A supportive commander, or someone trained in anger management, could facilitate these sessions to help team members understand their interpersonal conflicts before their emotions escalate and become detrimental to the mission.
Time away from home
Spending long periods away from home can weigh on the morale of staff in the space. Astronauts lose their families and report being worried about the welfare of their loved ones back on Earth, especially when someone is ill or in crisis.
Astronauts can also be affected by mission duration. A mission to Mars will have three phases: the journey out, the stay on the surface of Mars and the return home. Each of these steps can have a different impact on team members. For example, the excitement of being on Mars could promote courage, and boredom during return could cause it.
The gone-the-Earth phenomenon
For astronauts in orbit, it reminds them of seeing the Earth from space where their home, family and friends are not too far away. But for crew members traveling to Mars, watching Earth shrink into insignificance in the heavens can lead to a deep sense of isolation and nostalgia.
Having a telescope on board that will allow crew members to see the Earth as a beautiful ball in space, or give them access to virtual reality images of trees, lakes and family members, could help with any effects that are moving away from Earth to alleviate. But these countermeasures can lead to deeper depression as team members reflect on what is missing.
Planning for a mission to Mars
Researchers studied some of these issues during the Mars500 program, a collaboration between Russia and other space agencies. During Mars500, six men were isolated for 520 days in a space simulator in Moscow. They went through periods of delayed communication and autonomy, and dreamed of landing on Mars.
Scientists learned a lot from that simulation. But many aspects of a real Mars mission, such as microgravity, and some of the dangers associated with space – meteoroid impacts, the phenomenon that is leaving Earth – are not easy to imagine.
Missions planned under the Artemis program will allow researchers to learn more about the pressures astronauts will face during the trip to Mars.
For example, NASA is planning a space station called Gateway, which will orbit the Moon and serve as a relay station for a lunar landing and a mission to Mars. Researchers could simulate the outbound and return phases of a Mars mission by sending astronauts to Gateway for six-month periods, where they could introduce delayed Mars-like communications, autonomy and glimpses of a fading Earth.
Researchers could simulate a Mars exploration of the Moon by putting astronauts on tasks similar to those expected for Mars. In this way, team members could better prepare for the psychological and interpersonal pressures that come with a real Mars mission. These simulations could improve the chances of a successful mission and enhance the well-being of astronauts as they enter space.
This article is republished from The Conversation, a non-profit, independent news organization that brings you reliable facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. Written by: Nick Kanas, University of California, San Francisco
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Nick Kanas received research funding as a Principal Investigator from NASA and the National Institute for Space Biomedical Research from 1995 to 2010.
