Ellie Smith

Chawkat

G/T Independent Research

February 2018

Acta Martian Annotated Bibliography

Kanas, N. (2013). Psychosocial Issues during an Expedition to Mars. The New Martians Science
and Fiction, 103-123. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-00975-9_2

This study assessed the psychological and interpersonal stressors and effects of on-orbit

missions, and missions to Mars. The author explains that much is already known about the

psychological and interpersonal effects of space missions because of analog environments and

orbital missions, but new stressors will affect the crewmembers of missions to Mars that they

don’t experience closer to Earth. The author listed all the on-orbit psychological and

interpersonal stressors, and included studies that demonstrate the stressors, including studies of

crews of the Mir station and the International Space Station. The author also listed all the

psychological and interpersonal stressors that are unique to Mars missions, most of which are

presented in on-orbit missions, but at a more severe level during the long-duration missions.

Additionally, the author presented the positive and negative effects of missions to Mars. The

positive outcomes include and increase in fortitude, perseverance, independence, self reliance,

ingenuity, comradeship, appreciation for Earth, and decreased tension and depression. Negative

outcomes of missions to Mars include adjustment disorders, psychoses, group tension and loss of

cohesion, displacement, and sexual attraction/tension. One of the adjustment disorders that is

mentioned is asthenization, which is defined as a “weakness of the nervous system that produces

fatigue, irritability and emotional lability, attention and concentration difficulties, restlessness,

heightened perceptual sensitivities, palpitations and blood pressure instability, physical

weakness, and sleep and appetite problems.” Through this academic journal, the author explains

that there is a lot of information already known about what crews may experience on missions to

Mars, but that caution must be taken when using the information because there will be

unexpected psychological and interpersonal stressors that may be experienced while on the long-

duration mission.

Dr. Nick Kanas is an author of many books about space psychology and psychiatry and

Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Kanas has

also been Principal Investigator of psychological studies of astronauts and cosmonauts funded by

NASA and ESA. This article, written in 2014, effectively educates high school and college

students about the psychological and interpersonal stressors present in on-orbit missions and

missions to Mars. The journal contains sources for further information. For example, this journal

mentioned psychological difficulties after passing the halfway mark of the mission due to the

third-quarter phenomenon. According to “The Third-Quarter Phenomenon: Do People

Experience Discomfort After Stress Has Passed? From Antarctica to Outer Space” by Robert B.

Bechtel and Amy Berning, this information is correct because. Bechel and Berning’s study of

chaplains, school teachers, police officers, and base commanders showed that the hardest period

for the participants was after the peak of their job, confirming the third-quarter phenomenon.

Kanas approached the topic from both sides and included no bias.

Introduction
● Much is already known from analog environments and orbital spacecraft
○ Must be cautious when using this information for missions to Mars
 ■ New stressors will affect the crewmembers that they don’t experience
closer to Earth
Psychological and interpersonal stressors on-orbit
● On orbit stressors:
○ Isolation and confinement
■ Force crew members to interact together in a small space far away from
home
○ Possible danger
■ Micrometeoroid impact, equipment malfunction, fire, etc
○ Monotony
■ Routine, boring/not interesting
○ High workload
■ Spacewalks, emergencies
○ Personality conflicts
■ Can interfere with crew performance and bond
■ Are observed for signs of incompatibility
○ Crew size
■ Odd numbered groups and large groups have less conflict
○ Leadership roles
○ Crew-ground communication
○ Crew heterogeneity
■ Missions involve both genders, different professional and experiential
backgrounds, and different life experiences
○ Common language
○ Cultural issues
● Third quarter phenomenon
○ “Increased homesickness, depression, irritability, and decrements in crew
cohesion shortly after the halfway point”
○ At the halfway point, astronauts experience significant psychological and
interpersonal difficulties
○ They realize that they still have another half left before they will go home
● Mir and ISS psychological and interpersonal issue study
○ No significant changes in emotion and group interaction over time
○ No evidence of third quarter phenomenon
○ “The absence of general negative time effects in our studies was the result of
supportive actions taken by flight surgeons and psychologists in Mission Control”
■ Send favorite food and surprise presents to the astronauts
■ Increased family and friends communication
● Research in Antarctic and other isolated and confined environments
○ The leader has two major roles in a group
 ■ Task role
● Set the agenda and get work done
● Important during emergencies
● Significantly related to cohesion in the ground crew
■ Support role
● Support the team and pay attention to group morale
● Important during monotonous periods
● Significantly related to group cohesion
● Significantly related to cohesion in the ground crew
■ Leader should be comfortable with both roles and know when to do them
● Survey of 54 astronauts and cosmonauts
○ Two factors that significantly helped their communication with Mission Control:
shared experience and mutual excitement
○ Diversity
■ Can be beneficial
● novelty and simulation when the mission becomes monotonous
■ Can be stressful
● When adjusting to individual differences
○ Important for crewmembers to speak a common language
■ Improves communication
■ Improves bonding
■ 100% of the astronauts and cosmonauts agreed that it is important to speak
a common language
● Analysis of personal journals from 10 ISS astronauts
○ Dealt with: work, outside communications, adjustment, group interaction,
recreation/leisure, equipment, events, organization/management, sleep, and food
○ Life is space was not as difficult as they expected beforehand
○ 20% increase in interpersonal problems during second half of mission
○ Recommended that crewmembers control as much of their individual schedule as
possible

Cultural Issues
● Important issue is organizational culture
○ Interact differently when from different nations
● Different space programs
○ American space program
■ Dependence on procedures and equipment onboard
○ Russian space program
■ Dependence on experts on the ground to resolve problems and repairs
● Mir and ISS studies
 ○ Scored higher in cultural sophistication than Mission Control personnel
○ Russians:
■ Greater language flexibility
■ Higher levels of tension on the ISS
○ Americans
■ Scored higher on a measure of work pressure
● Other studies on cultural factors’ affect on space travel
○ Difficulties between space agencies
○ Communication misunderstandings
○ Differences in work management styles
○ Leadership and decision making

Psychological and interpersonal stressors unique to a Mars expedition

● Additional stressors on a Mars mission
○ Cultural issues
○ Selection issues: who will go?
■ Not everyone will volunteer to be away on a long duration mission
○ Effects of long-term microgravity
■ Will be worse than when they are closer to Earth
○ Effects of long-term radiation
■ Will be worse than when they are closer to Earth
○ Extreme isolation and loneliness
■ Will be worse than when they are closer to Earth
○ Dependence on machines and local resources
■ Basic life support and operational activities (navigation and propulsion)
■ Not all supplies and fuel can be carried on the ship, so they will need to
depend on local resources
○ Limited social contacts
■ Result from the lack of novelty and predictability of interacting with the
same people for years
○ Leisure time
■ Important for human interaction
■ Must be flexible for changing interests
○ Lack of support due to communication delays
■ It will take time to send resupplies in a timely manner
○ Increased autonomy
■ There will be an increase in separation and time between Mission Control
and the crew, so the crew will need to make their own schedules and deal
with operational and medical emergencies
○ Earth-out-of-view phenomenon
 ■ Their home will be a tiny dot in the sky
■ May enhance sense of isolation and homesickness
○ Family problems at home
■ Informing an astronaut about bad news from home
● Should it be withheld until the end of the mission? Should the
astronauts be told?
Psychological impact of a Mars expedition
● Psychological and psychiatric reactions
○ Adjustment disorders
■ Occurs during the first few weeks
■ Anxiety, depression
○ Asthenization
■ Serious adjustment reaction related to neurasthenia
■ “Weakness of the nervous system that produces fatigue, irritability and
emotional lability, attention and concentration difficulties, restlessness,
heightened perceptual sensitivities, palpitations and blood pressure
instability, physical weakness, and sleep and appetite problems”
○ Somatoform disorders
■ “Distressing physical symptoms that suggest the presence of a medical
condition but which are not fully explained by a real physical issues.
Instead they are due to underlying psychological issues.”
■ Ex. Feeling pain after having a dream about having an infection and
worrying that you can’t do anything about it while on mission
○ Psychoses: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder
■ Have not yet been reported during missions, probably because of the good
screening that is done beforehand, but it had been seen during the
screening in applicant astronauts
○ Suicidal/homicidal intent
○ Post-return problems
■ Spiritual changes, more sensitive, people-oriented
■ Major depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse
■ Also seen in the family of the astronaut
Interpersonal impact of a Mars expedition
● Interpersonal effects related to stressors
○ Group tension and loss of cohesion
■ Withdrawal and territorial behavior
■ Lack of privacy and personal space
● Arguments and fights about one person in another’s personal space
or borrowing another person’s belongings
○ Important to have private spaces
 ■ Scapegoating/subgrouping
● Blamed for another person’s problems
● Form groups with similar people and blame other groups for things
○ Displacement
■ Occurs because of tension
■ Can cause miscommunication and conflicts with others
■ May cause crewmembers to not do what Mission COntrol tells them
○ Sexual attraction/tension
■ Has had some reports of it during missions on Earth, but no reports of it
occurring on space missions
■ Lowered testosterone levels and upper body fluid shifts
■ May be fetal and neonatal development problems in microgravity
■ Female astronauts take oral contraceptives to regulate menstrual cycle and
attenuate bone loss and osteoporosis
Positive effects of being in space
● Increased fortitude, perseverance, independence, self reliance, ingenuity, comradeship,
and decreased tension and depression
● Increase appreciation of Earth
● Increase appreciation for people and nature