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The Mars-500 crew in daily life activities: An ethological study

2013; Elsevier BV; Volume: 91; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.actaastro.2013.05.001

1879-2030

Carole Tafforin,

Space Exploration and Technology

A Mars mission is a new challenge for scientific investigators in the space field. What would be the behavioral profile of an interplanetary crew with long-duration social isolation and spatial restriction? The current study addresses this question with the first ethological data from the Mars-500 experiment. It took place in Moscow, Russia from June 3, 2010 to November 4, 2011. It was designed to simulate the living and working conditions of an isolated and confined crew over 250 days for reaching Mars, 30 days for Mars orbiting with Mars landing and 240 days for returning to Earth. The Mars-500 crew was composed of three Russians, two Europeans and one Chinese. The Mars-500 facilities comprised four hermetically sealed, interconnected modules and a Martian surface module. We applied the ethological method based on observation, description and quantification of the individual and inter-individual behaviors in terms of personal actions, visual interactions, object interactions, body interactions, facial expressions and collateral acts. These events were scored on the Observer XT® software, from video recordings made every two weeks at breakfast time inside the habitat module. We found the following results: a diminishing collective time from the first phase corresponding to the 250-day trip to Mars to the second phase corresponding to the 240-day return to Earth; 35-day cycles then 70-day cycles of high duration of personal actions within these phases; periodic oscillations of duration of inter-personal actions; decreasing then increasing occurrences of facial expressions with temporal points of decrements, around day 159 and day 355, after 6 months and one year of simulation; increasing occurrences of collateral acts over the full 520-day journey. We discuss the findings with regard to a Mars mission scenario. Time has a major impact on the behavioral profile, as shown by indicators of physical and psychological states of fatigue, stress, well being and good spirit. The interplanetary crew follows phasic, cyclic, periodic and punctual behavioral changes in a temporal dynamic as a positive adaptation.