Scientists Are Testing Astronauts In Long Mars Simulations, And The Results Are Worrying

 

In our lifetimes, it is nearly definite we will see humans set foot on Mars. If the modern-day space race between private companies and nations carry on, it is not out of the equation that we will witness a long-term human existence on either the Moon or Mars in that time frame too, an unbelievable yet insane concept.

 

But – and it is a big but – astronomers simply have no idea how a group of astronauts isolated almost 380 million kilometers (236 million miles) from Earth would fare in such circumstances. Would they sustain constant communication with Earth and work perfectly as a team? Or would they descend into chaos, even cutting communication with their superiors and making an independent colony? Russian scientists are aiming to figure that out before they spend billions on the real project, by placing a group of astronauts in a Mars colonization simulation.

 

Project SIRIUS (Scientific International Research in Unique terrestrial Station – yes, they reached a bit to make the abbreviation cool) is an attempt to appreciate the psychology of astronauts during long space flights. The outcomes have just been published in Frontiers in Physiology. Seventeen and 120-day isolation experiments in 2017 and 2019, respectively, were aimed to simulate a group isolated in an extraterrestrial atmosphere.

 

The results confirmed their doubts – the delay in communication due to the space, coupled with the prolonged period away from Mother Earth, resulted in the astronauts becoming disconnected from mission control and becoming nearly autonomous.

 

 Earlier simulations proposed that once the astronauts left on their journey, there was a strong chance that they would begin to detach from mission control, reducing the number of conditions they would report on. To confirm the results of former simulations, i.e. the Mars-500 missions, the scientists carried out the two isolations using a mixed-gender, international crew. The missions were analyzing how contestants communicated with mission control and how well they worked together to build an effective colony.

 

They began with a take-off process, before landing on the unfriendly environment of a particular area within the training facility. The crew were then locked away in pods together, given marginal rations and supplies, and subjected to the full isolation of the real project.

 

Analysis of the results recommended a number of conclusions, some positive, while others were more challenging. The crew really increased their communication with the mission control center (MCC) at the middle stage of the simulation, which involved the Mars landing, but then afterward became detached, decreasing the volume of communication with MCC. They counted less on the recommendations of MCC, becoming more autonomous as they adjusted to their mission.

 

While it is optimistic the crew were able to take matters into their own hands and live independently, disconnect from MCC is a worrying scenario.

 

"The negative side is that the mission control misses the chance to understand the needs and difficulties of the crew, which subsequently delays mission control's ability to offer support," said co-author Dmitry Shved of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Aviation Institute, in a report to CNET.

 

 

References:

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/584739main_Wings-ch5d-pgs370-407.pdf

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2021.751170/full