



A trip to Mars would be a very different experience for astronauts than the space station experience. It would last about three years, for starters, and Earth would disappear from view. “Seeing the Earth from space, the overview effect, is a source of comfort to astronauts, who have reported it gives them a feeling of protectiveness or sense of responsibility,” Picano says. What happens to an astronaut’s mind far from the comforting view our home world?

Given the almost nonexistent psychological training of the early astronauts, I know my dad would be pleasantly surprised how far it has come. “The astronauts say getting to space was easy,” he once told me, “but understanding the experience was hard.”







This article originally appeared on Discovermagazine.com

Russia was ahead of the U.S. in considering such psychological challenges for a Mars crew. From 2007 to 2011, Russia conducted three isolation studies in a simulated spacecraft in Moscow. In the longest study, lasting 520 days, four of the six members developed psychiatric problems, including sleep disorders and depression. Researchers decided that astronauts would need coping strategies to deal with the isolation as well as frustrations over the 40-minute communication delay with Earth.In 2012, NASA began a partnership with HI-SEAS (Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) Recently, six people spent over a year in cramped quarters 8,000 feet above sea level on the Big Island of Hawaii. The purpose was to determine how isolation and confinement might affect a crew stationed at a Mars research outpost. The Hawaii team’s only communication with people outside the group was via a 40-minute-delayed email.“We learned that you can’t prevent conflict in humans, but you can choose a crew that is resilient when things go wrong,” said Kimberly Binsted, HI-SEAS principal investigator.Picano says it’s clear that Mars astronauts will still need the right stuff, but also “adaptability, environmental coping, mental endurance, being a good roommate and working as a team.”