Above: Members of a crew rotation outside the MDRS habitat prior to the mission start.
Header Image: Two crew members navigating on EVA under conflicting information. One crew member (left) holds a map and compass, while the other (right) holds a digital heading indicator.

A crew of astronauts wearing spacesuits look out across the reddish horizon, the rock formations unfamiliar, with no trails to guide them and incomplete maps. They are lost, once again, on Mars. 

Human exploration of the red planet will present unique challenges, and a team of University of Colorado Boulder researchers are studying real-world human decision-making for Mars through a unique, Earth-based experience.

“When humans land on Mars, poor decisions can lead to loss of the mission and loss of life,” said PhD student Erin Richardson. “This work here on Earth is studying how to best design and support astronaut teams so they can be effective.”

Mars on Earth

Welcome to the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), an analog astronaut research facility in the remote Utah desert. Operated by the Mars Society, the center gives scientists and engineers the opportunity to conduct complex experiments in a simulation space habitat.

Using MRDS, Richardson and Postdoctoral Scholar Aaron Allred, both from the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, are leading a major study on team function – and dysfunction – in isolated and extreme environments.

“Our team is looking at cognitive security. How do we protect people’s ability in the face of information threats like mis- and dis-information and how do teams make decisions based on incomplete information in extreme environments,” Allred said.

Astronaut Experiments

Alongside a broader team, Allred and Richardson designed a series of experiments and recruited 18 mock astronauts to live and work at MDRS under conditions that will match actual life on Mars. That included close quarters, little privacy, a requirement to wear spacesuit simulators when leaving the habitat, and lengthy communication delays – up to 40 minutes, when speaking to Mission Control.

A crew member on an EVA looking out across the landscape.

“Decision making of teams in extreme environments is understudied. There has been some work looking at other extreme, isolated environments, like submarine crews and Antarctic teams, but what is novel in our work is the ability to run replicable experimental trials,” Richardson said.

By splitting participants into separate groups and pairings, experimental trials could be repeated to see if results varied. 

Although university research involving human subjects often relies on undergraduate volunteers, for this project, Allred and Richardson were able to recruit working scientists and engineers worldwide.

“We had almost 600 applicants,” Richardson said. “MDRS is very well known, and people want to go there. We had a goal of assembling crews that were as close in education, operational experience, and age to real astronauts as possible.”

Navigation Challenges

Once the crews were on site, they took part in outdoor navigation challenges that focused on human response when dealing with incomplete and conflicting information.

“In one experiment, one person had a map, one had GPS, and we always gave one of them incorrect information,” Allred said. “The teammates had to work together to solve where to go. Doing it as extra vehicular activities (EVAs) where they’re wearing a spacesuit outdoors also imposes a time pressure and gives perceived stakes, based on how long the life support system has before it runs out.”

Allred and Richardson.

Subjects completed daily surveys on their experience and wore sensors to track their body’s physiological response, including a functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) device to monitor brain function in real time. Team dynamics, alertness, and fatigue were also tracked.

“We’re still analyzing the data, but anecdotally, one crew stayed up super late their last night and in all three of their final EVAs they followed the wrong source of information. Fatigue is unavoidable, but measuring its impact allows us to better support operators,” Richardson said.

Research Impact

As they digest the data collected, both Richardson and Allred are excited about the potential impact of the research.

“This was an incredible opportunity to go out there and conduct experiments where there are more stressors than you can do in a laboratory while enforcing controlled experimental design in a space analog. We want to set a baseline of scientific understanding that can aid development of technological countermeasures,” Allred said.

The principal investigator for the grant is Research Professor Leanne Hirshfield in the Institute of Cognitive Science. Allred and Richardson are advised by Allie Hayman, an Associate Professor in Smead Aerospace. 

More Photos

The MDRS habitat at dusk.

Two crew members ready for EVA wearing communications headsets and microphones, GoPro cameras, wireless lapel microphones, and location trackers.

Inside the habitat practicing ultrasound imaging skills on a cardiac phantom. Small ultrasound devices like these are ideal for constrained spaceflight missions.

The Perseverance rover departing for an EVA.