Mars-500 Psychological Crew Support – A Concept for Future Human Exploration Missions
- Paper number
IAC-11,A1,1,12,x9678
- Author
Mrs. Elena Feichtinger, European Space Agency (ESA), Russia
- Coauthor
Dr. Thu Jennifer Ngo-Anh, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands
- Coauthor
Dr. Patrik Sundblad, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands
- Coauthor
Mr. Christer Fuglesang, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands
- Coauthor
Dr. Martin Zell, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands
- Coauthor
Mr. Diego Urbina, European Space Agency (ESA), Russia
- Coauthor
Mr. Romain Charles, European Space Agency (ESA), Russia
- Year
2011
- Abstract
ESA is preparing for future Human Exploration missions. Making sure that astronauts are prepared mentally and physically for the demands of long exploration missions is an imperative for mission success. The Mars-500 project, undertaken jointly with the Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow, is part of ESA’s effort to prepare for human space missions beyond Low Earth Orbit. The full 520-day Mars mission simulation with an international crew of 3 Russians, 1 Chinese, 2 Europeans (French, Italian) from ESA and implemented in a space simulation facility at IBMP started in June 2010 and foresees the simulation of a 245-day journey to Mars, 30 days of “Mars surface activities” with 3 EVAs and a 245-day return transfer to Earth. The crew is faced with an environment and constraints as close to a realistic Mars mission as possible, such as limited volume and privacy, no real-time interactive communication with mission control, limited resources and the need for full crew autonomy. At the same time they perform an extensive science programme covering a wide range of scientific and technological topics. One of the pre-conditions for successful human exploration missions is the maintenance of physical and mental crew health. Some of the main psychological challenges in such a mission scenario are physical, communicative and emotional isolation from the outside world, sensoric deprivation and limited social contacts, cultural differences and potential incompatibilities of crew members from different countries, permanent awareness about the need for full crew autonomy also in emergency situations and continuous exposure to a hazardous environment. The maintenance of mental crew health can only be achieved through a comprehensive psychological support programme consisting of measures to efficiently counteract the negative effects of the constraining mission environment. The Mars-500 project does not only serve as an excellent platform for scientists implementing a research programme but it also provides the opportunity to elaborate and test new long-duration human mission operations concepts and procedures in practice which differ from the established approach presently implemented for ISS, specifically in the area of psychological crew support. This paper will provide an overview of the constraints potentially impacting psychological crew health in future interplanetary missions in general and the Mars-500 mission in particular. It will also describe the psychological support programme implemented during the Mars-500 mission and it will show some of the preliminary results in terms of efficiency of the psychological countermeasures.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
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