behavioral conditions
Behavioral issues among groups of people crammed in a small space over a long period of time, no matter how well trained they are, are inevitable. Crews will be carefully chosen, trained and supported to ensure they can work effectively as a team for months or years in space.
On Earth we have the luxury of picking up our cell phones and instantly being connected with nearly everything and everyone around us. On a trip to Mars, astronauts will be more isolated and confined than we can imagine. Sleep loss, circadian desynchronization, and work overload compound this issue and may lead to performance decrements, adverse health outcomes, and compromised mission objectives.
Given that crews of future exploration missions will be exposed to extended durations of isolation and confinement, greater distances from Earth, as well as increased exposures to radiation and altered gravity, there is a possibility that these singular or combined hazards could lead to
(a) adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions affecting crew health and performance during the mission.
(b) development of psychiatric disorders if adverse behavioral health conditions are undetected or inadequately mitigated.
(c) long term health consequences, including late-emerging cognitive and behavioral changes.
These countermeasures will be validated in high fidelity exploration analogs and ultimately ISS. Periodic tech watches will ensure that the most advanced state-of-the-art technology is in use. Where feasible, we will identify biomarkers of disease pathophysiology and/or progression for use in monitoring adverse acute, “in-mission” CNS/cognitive/behavioral health outcomes and for use in continuity of care perspective relative to spaceflight. A systems biology approach for individual CNS/cognitive/behavioral health and performance adverse changes may be needed to form a basis for animal to human extrapolation, and will rely on understanding of molecular and physiological changes in the CNS/cognitive/behavioral performance caused by mission- relevant exposures (e.g., space radiation, isolation, altered gravity) and how these changes relate to acute, “in-mission” and post-flight CNS/cognitive adverse outcomes. Countermeasures developed will address the pre-, during-, and post-mission phases of exploration missions. Pre-mission vulnerabilities and resiliency, in-mission exposures, and post-mission impacts will be identified and baselined for Earth-levels. Post-mission assessments will help demonstrate long-term health consequences of long-duration spaceflight, and help assess efficacy of current countermeasures and readiness levels of research deliverables (tools and technologies).
Conclusion
From challenge which astronauts faces it in their mission is the isolation and confinement which switch on their performance and health for long term, to address this hazard, methods for monitoring behavioral health and adapting/refining various tools and technologies for use in the spaceflight environment are being developed to detect and treat early risk factors. Research is also being conducted in workload and performance, light therapy for circadian alignment, phase shifting and alertness.
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