I was listening to a media overview of the Life On Mars Project. The short version is that 6 people, 3 men and 3 women, will spend 365 in a biosphere located on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. They will be permitted to leave the dome but will be required to wear a space suit to simulate the conditions on Mars.
In an unfortunate naming twist, the acronym for the effort is HI-SEAS. I think they should have gone with a different acronym.
The project will study the effects of long-term isolation and co-habitation. The results of the 1-year study will be used in the planning of an actual manned mission to Mars. This is certainly interesting research and the kind of work that can’t be simulated given the complexity of the human condition.
I thought it was curious that the crew features 3 men and 3 women. Given the fact that this is a 1-year project in close quarter conditions, with no external human contact, it would appear that the organizers were anticipating the human needs beyond food, shelter, clothing.
— University of Hawaii (@UHawaiiNews) August 29, 2015
This leads to a number of interesting questions about the consequences of limited human interactions and self-enforced rules of order. What if one crewmember commits a crime against another crewmember? In a 36-foot diameter dome do you quarantine that person? Each crewmember holds specific skills that are necessary for the ongoing support of the station, putting an individual in isolation would deprive the rest of the crew of essential support.
What if someone unexpectedly binges and eats all the chocolate? Seems like a small thing but human conflict is often the result of small things piling up over time.
What happens when someone dies? This being a research project, one can presume that there would be an intervention in the event of life-threatening illness, but in space that isn’t possible so what would happen? Would you shoot the body out of a port, say a few words and move on? How do you replace the essential skills that person held?
There are obvious questions about long-term co-habitation in a small space that this research will shed light on. Entertainment, fitness, conflict resolution, communication, and mental health are all obvious questions, but it would be fascinating to learn about all the not so obvious issues that the planners have on their list.
I hope NASA departs from the usual media strategy of sunshine and rainbows to describe their work. This is a rare opportunity to shed light on the complexity of the human condition in anticipation of actual long-term cohabitation in space. I am also left to wonder why the International Space Station is not being used for this research given that it is an actual installation in outer space designed to support long-term co-habitation.