Preparing astronauts for the mental and emotional challenges of deep space

– The weather of course. Rain, sun and wind, Kelly said. Then you miss the people who are important to you, your family, and your friends.

As NASA plans to return people to the Moon through the Artemis program and eventually land on Mars, there is growing interest in the effects of long-distance, deep-sea travel.

The big question some scientists are asking is whether people are mentally and emotionally prepared for such a big leap. In short, how will we deal with it?

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Participants were regularly asked to complete the astronauts’ cognitive tests on memory, risk taking, emotional recognition, and spatial orientation.

The researchers wanted to test whether testing 30 minutes a day with artificial gravity, either one at a time or in five-minute bouts, could prevent negative effects. While study participants experienced an initial cognitive decline during their tests, this stabilized and did not last for 60 days.

But the speed of emotion recognition deteriorated overall. During the tests, they were more likely to see their facial expressions as angry rather than happy or neutral.

“Long-distance astronauts, such as those participating in the research, will spend long periods in microgravity confined to a small space with a few other astronauts,” said Matthias Basner, a professor in the study’s university’s department of psychiatry. . Pennsylvania Perlman. School of Medicine.

“The astronauts’ ability to correctly ‘read’ each other’s emotional manifestations will be of paramount importance for effective teamwork and mission success. Our findings suggest that astronauts’ ability may be affected over time.”

It was not clear in the study whether this impairment resulted from simulating the lack of gravity or the confinement and isolation that the participants experienced for 60 days.

These two extreme environments – the edge of space and the world – cause a lack of privacy, a changing cycle of light and dark, solitude, solitude, unanimity, and long-term separation from family and friends.

Candice Alfano, a professor of psychology at the University of Houston, and her team developed the checklist for a self-report to track changes in mental health. The biggest change in the two Antarctic stations was a decrease in positive emotions from the beginning to the end of their nine-month stay, without causing a “rebound” effect, even when they were about to return home.

Participants also used less effective strategies for promoting positive emotions.

“Interventions and countermeasures to promote positive emotions can be critical to reducing psychological risks in extreme circumstances,” Alfano said.

Protect explorers away from home

Researchers are actively studying the idea of ​​how purposeful work can bring mission crews together. When astronauts work As a team, either on the space station or in a Mars simulator environment on earth, working together for a common goal.

And when they are done with their work, they can spend time together watching movies or enjoying fun activities to overcome feelings of isolation.

However, a mission to Mars, which could take months or years, depending on the design of the spacecraft, could lead to a sense of unanimity and confinement. And the frequent contact with Mission Control and loved ones on Earth will be more stormy the further away from Earth.

“We need to make sure we have some kind of ad hoc protocol and things that the crew needs,” Alexandra Whitmer, an element researcher with the Human Research Program, told CNN in a 2021 interview. “It is very important for us to understand the individuals who will be involved in this mission.”

One of the amazing discoveries on the space station is how food – and crop production – raises the morale of the crew while maintaining a very important tangible connection to your home.

HRP scientists wondered if the complacency could last. When astronauts are like this Scott Kelly or Christina Koch have returned to Earth after a long spaceflight and talked about waiting to feel the rain or the ocean waves again.