Team performance analysis of a collaborative spatial orientation mission in Mars analogue environment
- Paper number
IAC-19,A1,IP,7,x50340
- Author
Mr. Baptiste Prébot, France, Laboratoire Intégration du Matériau au Système
- Coauthor
Ms. Cavel Caroline, France, Ecole Nationale Superieure de Cognitique
- Coauthor
Ms. Calice Laetitia, France, Ecole Nationale Superieure de Cognitique
- Coauthor
Mr. Mahaut Mateo, France, Ecole Nationale Superieure de Cognitique
- Coauthor
Mr. Leduque Adrien, France, Ecole Nationale Superieure de Cognitique
- Coauthor
Prof. Jean-Marc Salotti, France, Laboratoire de l'Intégration du Matériau au Système
- Year
2019
- Abstract
As highlighted by human factors experts of the IAA, complementary studies have to be carried out in the field of human sciences to better understand psychological and sociological issues in long duration spaceflight and in isolated and extreme planetary environment. In order to minimize operational risks, efficient communication, problem solving capability and teamwork efficiency, which are considered key behavioral competencies by NASA, have to be tested. It is proposed here to assess the collaboration performance of astronauts in the context of a team spatial orientation task in planetary analog environments. The experiment was originally designed and tested at the Mars Desert Research Station (crew 185, December 2017). Two persons were solicited. In the preliminary phase of the experiment, the first person walked a few hundred meters outside the habitat and built a pile of stones in a specific location recorded on a map. The next day, the second person was asked to find the pile of stones without any map, just listening and talking to the first person, who stayed at the base. The experiment was repeated several times with different persons. Interestingly, some failures have been observed due to imperfect spatial representation, uncertainties and some communication problems. A similar experiment has been carried out using a virtual environment. N=62 participants have been paired up. Both teammates must collaborate to send a rover to a specific location on a computer simulation of the Mars surface. One person, the astronaut, drives the rover in the virtual environment, and has a map of that environment, while the second person, the captain staying at the base, only has access to the map, with the target location marked. Both participants do not know exactly what map the other has and can only communicate orally. Every 45 seconds, each participant is asked to mark on his map the location he believes the rover to be. Three metrics are used to objectively assess team performance. Along with the time taken to complete the mission, similarity of teammates spatial shared situational awareness and their accuracy compared to the real position of the rover registered in the simulation are also taken into account. Interesting results are presented and discussed. Remarkably, the fastest group was not the one with the best spatial SSA and in some occasions, as was the case at Mars Desert research Station, several teams failed to send the rover to the appropriate location.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-19,A1,IP,7,x50340.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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