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

IAC-19,A1,1,9,x53204.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-19,A1,1,9,x53204.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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