Assessment of the Effects of Isolation, Confinement and Hypoxia on Spaceflight Piloting Performance for future Space Missions – The SIMSKILL Experiment in Antarctica
- Paper number
IAC-19,A1,1,9,x53204
- Author
Mr. Miquel Bosch Bruguera, Germany, Institute of Space Systems, Universität Stuttgart
- Coauthor
Prof. Reinhold Ewald, Germany, Institute of Space Systems, Universität Stuttgart
- Coauthor
Dr. Nathalie Pattyn, Belgium, University of Brussels
- Coauthor
Mrs. Emilie Dessy, Belgium, Royal Military Academy
- Coauthor
Mr. Andreas Fink, Germany, University of Stuttgart
- Coauthor
Dr. Valerie Schröder, Germany, Institute of Space Systems, Universität Stuttgart
- Coauthor
Dr. Floris P. van den Berg, France, ESA - European Space Agency
- Coauthor
Dr. Nadja Albertsen, Denmark, ESA - European Space Agency
- Coauthor
Dr. Carole Dangoisse, United Kingdom, ESA - European Space Agency
- Coauthor
Dr. Carmen Possnig, Austria, ESA - European Space Agency
- Coauthor
Dr. Greig Lawson, United Kingdom, British Antarctic Survey
- Year
2019
- Abstract
Interplanetary human missions to Mars and beyond will suppose a very demanding physical and psychological environment for future astronauts. Isolation, confinement, hypoxia or hypercapnia in a reduced pressure atmosphere, darkness and other factors are expected to endanger a mission’s success, directly influencing human performance. In order to study the effects of such environmental conditions on human beings, the SIMSKILL Experiment aims to investigate how spacecraft piloting performance decays over time by deploying a Soyuz flight simulator on the Antarctic research stations Halley VI and Concordia, which feature similar living conditions as those of a space mission, leading to muscular atrophy, loss of cognitive capacities, and reduction of psychomotor skills. This paper offers an up-to-date analysis on the recorded data from the scientific campaigns in Antarctica, compared to those of the control group subjects in Stuttgart. An overall total of 57 subjects and more than one thousand approach and docking flights to the ISS performed in the simulator have been analyzed using mathematical models. The results obtained from this analysis show how the influence of isolation, confinement and hypoxia in Antarctica is crucial to understand how differences in performance appear between subjects. A thorough assessment of the individual and collective trends is presented, by showing how background factors such as age, gender, health. are essential parameters to understand a pilot’s skill evolution.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-19,A1,1,9,x53204.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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