1. Effects of Isolation on the Crewmembers of a Mars Mission
Nick Kanas, M.D.
Professor Emeritus (Psychiatry)
University of California, San Francisco
Humans on Mars Sustainability Workshop, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center,
February 8-9, 2018

2. The Essentials

3. Space is not the Earth

4. SKY COORDINATE SYSTEMS
SKY COORDINATE SYSTEMS. A figure of an armillary sphere, from Lorenz Fries’ 1522 edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia X 24.9 cm (page size). Note the central Earth and the projections of its great circles in the sky. The Aequinoctoalis is the projection of the Earth’s equator onto the celestial sphere (which here is the same as the Horizon), and it rotates around the axis whose top is the north equatorial pole. The Ecliptica is the line in the sky through which the Sun, planets, and zodiac constellations move, and it rotates around an axis whose top is the north ecliptic pole. These two orientations are 23½ degrees apart (which actually represents the tilt of the Earth’s axis as it revolves around the Sun).
CONSTELLATION ORIENTATIONS. Looking up at the celestial sphere from the Earth, the constellations are in a geocentric orientation. Looking back at the celestial sphere from God’s viewpoint (like a celestial globe), the constellations are left-to-right (mirror image) reversed and are in an external orientation.

5. SKY COORDINATE SYSTEMS
SKY COORDINATE SYSTEMS. A figure of an armillary sphere, from Lorenz Fries’ 1522 edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia X 24.9 cm (page size). Note the central Earth and the projections of its great circles in the sky. The Aequinoctoalis is the projection of the Earth’s equator onto the celestial sphere (which here is the same as the Horizon), and it rotates around the axis whose top is the north equatorial pole. The Ecliptica is the line in the sky through which the Sun, planets, and zodiac constellations move, and it rotates around an axis whose top is the north ecliptic pole. These two orientations are 23½ degrees apart (which actually represents the tilt of the Earth’s axis as it revolves around the Sun).
CONSTELLATION ORIENTATIONS. Looking up at the celestial sphere from the Earth, the constellations are in a geocentric orientation. Looking back at the celestial sphere from God’s viewpoint (like a celestial globe), the constellations are left-to-right (mirror image) reversed and are in an external orientation.

6. SKY COORDINATE SYSTEMS
SKY COORDINATE SYSTEMS. A figure of an armillary sphere, from Lorenz Fries’ 1522 edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia X 24.9 cm (page size). Note the central Earth and the projections of its great circles in the sky. The Aequinoctoalis is the projection of the Earth’s equator onto the celestial sphere (which here is the same as the Horizon), and it rotates around the axis whose top is the north equatorial pole. The Ecliptica is the line in the sky through which the Sun, planets, and zodiac constellations move, and it rotates around an axis whose top is the north ecliptic pole. These two orientations are 23½ degrees apart (which actually represents the tilt of the Earth’s axis as it revolves around the Sun).
CONSTELLATION ORIENTATIONS. Looking up at the celestial sphere from the Earth, the constellations are in a geocentric orientation. Looking back at the celestial sphere from God’s viewpoint (like a celestial globe), the constellations are left-to-right (mirror image) reversed and are in an external orientation.

7. Kanas et al. Mir/ISS Studies (1995-2006)
Studied 13 U.S. and 17 Russian astronauts Used measures of mood and crew “climate” Results (in both studies): No evidence of time effects (e.g., 3rd quarter) Evidence of displacement of crew stress to ground Commander support correlated with crew cohesion Russians higher tension, U.S. higher work pressure Wang and Wu (2015) 3 Ss in Lunar Palace 1 for 105d in China Replicated above three findings of Kanas et al.

8. What about an Expedition to Mars?
Space is not the Earth
What about an Expedition to Mars?

9. Unique Psychosocial Issues (long-distance, multi-year, isolating)
Increased crew autonomy
More dependence on on-board technical resources
Communication delays with the Earth
Increased isolation and monotony (especially
coming home)
Earth-out-of-view phenomenon
Finding life

10. Unique Psychosocial Issues (cont.)
Possible psychiatric issues:
Adjustment Disorder
Asthenization
Somatoform Disorder
Psychoses: schizophrenia, bipolar
Suicidal/homicidal tendencies

11. Mars 500 Project
520 day Mars simulation in Russia ( ) 6 international male crewmembers Included high autonomy and communication delays Results from several studies: Crew adapted to high autonomy No evidence for 3rd quarter phenomenon Displacement of crew tension to outside Crew showed tendency to groupthink Negative emotions were suppressed

12. Related Studies
Kanas et al. (2010) Studied autonomy in submersible habitat, Mars-like location in Canada, and Mars 500 pilot (105 days) Found high work autonomy accepted by crew and did not interfere with mission objectives Kintz et al. (2016) Surveyed astronauts and mission control during ISS mission with 50 sec. one-way communication delays Found delays associated with lower team mood, individual well-being, and communication quality

13. The Challenges

14. Questions that Need to be Answered
What is the effect of increased crew autonomy on the crewmembers? On mission control?
What strategies are most useful in dealing with delayed communication with the Earth?
What is the effect on crewmembers of the “Earth-out-of-view” phenomenon? What countermeasures can be used to deal with potential psychological problems?

15. Questions that Need to be Answered
5. How would a crew deal with psychiatric issues like
psychosis and suicidality? Restraints? Seclusion?
Would the third phase of the mission (the return
from Mars) produce boredom and morale
problems? What countermeasures could be
developed to deal with such issues?

16. Future Research for a Mars Mission
Psychological problems and countermeasures should first be explored during analog missions on Earth.
Then psychological problems and countermeasures should be examined during analog missions in space:
ISS and cislunar space: simulate outbound and
return phases of a Mars mission
Retrieved asteroid and Moon base: simulate
working on the Martian surface