Multi-System Adaptation to Confinement During the 180-Day Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) Experiment.

Confinement experiments are essential to prepare long-term space exploration. The 180-day Chinese CELSS (Controlled Ecological Life Support System) study is unique in its design, including a closed-loop system and mid-mission simulation of Mars-like day-night cycle of 24 h 40 min for 36 days (days 72-108). Our aim was to study physiological and psychological consequences of this confinement in four healthy volunteers (one female). CELSS platform consisted of six interconnected modules including four greenhouses. Life support systems were controlled automatically. Body composition, fluid compartments, metabolic state, heart, large vessels, endothelial function, and muscle tone were studied using biological, functional, and/or morphological measurements. Behavioral activities were studied by ethological monitoring; psychological state was assessed by questionnaires. Body weight decreased by ∼2 kg mostly due to lean mass loss. Plasma volume and volume-regulating hormones were mostly stable. Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) increased by 10-15%. Endothelium-dependent vasodilation decreased. Masseter tone increased by 6-14% suggesting stress, whereas paravertebral muscle tone diminished by 10 ± 6%. Behavioral flow reflecting global activity decreased 1.5- to 2-fold after the first month. Psychological questionnaires revealed decrease in hostility and negative emotions but increase in emotional adaptation suggesting boredom and monotony. One subject was clearly different with lower fitness, higher levels of stress and anxiety, and somatic signs as back pain, peak in masseter tone, increased blood cortisol and C-reactive protein. Comparison of CELSS experiment with Mars500 confinement program suggests the need for countermeasures to prevent increased IMT and endothelial deconditioning. Daily activity in greenhouse could act as countermeasure against psycho-physiological deconditioning.

Wireless Monitoring of Changes in Crew Relations during Long-Duration Mission Simulation.

Group structure and cohesion along with their changes over time play an important role in the success of missions where crew members spend prolonged periods of time under conditions of isolation and confinement. Therefore, an objective system for unobtrusive monitoring of crew cohesion and possible individual stress reactions is of high interest. For this purpose, an experimental wireless group structure (WLGS) monitoring system integrated into a mobile psychophysiological system was developed. In the presented study the WLGS module was evaluated separately in six male subjects (27-38 years old) participating in a 520-day simulated mission to Mars. Two days per week, each crew member wore a small sensor that registered the presence and distance of the sensors either worn by the other subjects or strategically placed throughout the isolation facility. The registration between two sensors was on average 91.0% in accordance. A correspondence of 95.7% with the survey video on day 475 confirmed external reliability. An integrated score of the "crew relation time index" was calculated and analyzed over time. Correlation analyses of a sociometric questionnaire (r = .35-.55, p< .05) and an ethological group approach (r = .45-.66, p < 05) provided initial evidence of the method's validity as a measure of cohesion when taking behavioral and activity patterns into account (e.g. only including activity phases in the afternoon). This confirms our assumption that the registered amount of time spent together during free time is associated with the intensity of personal relationships.

Confinement vs. isolation as analogue environments for Mars missions from a human ethology viewpoint.

INTRODUCTION: This study compares observational data from two situations designed as planetary exploration missions: the Tara expedition and the Mars-500 experiment. We examined the issue of distinct environmental factors, isolation vs. confinement, which may have different or similar impacts on crews' behavioral manifestations for long-term adaptation, such as on a Mars mission. The Tara expedition was a 507-d polar drift of the Tara schooner embedded in the Arctic ice with two successive periods of summer and winter-over in an isolated environment. The Mars-500 experiment took place in Moscow and was a 520-d simulation of a trip to Mars, the Mars landing, and the return trip to Earth in a confined environment. METHODS: We used the ethological method based on observation, description, and quantification of individual and interindividual behaviors. These events were scored from video recordings made during daily life activities and aggregated according to the summer period and to the outgoing trip for the whole crew (N = 6) for each situation, respectively. RESULTS: We did not observe differences in the frequency of facial expressions and in the duration of body interactions. Conversely, there were differences in the frequency of collateral acts and in the duration of personal actions with the highest levels during the Mars-500 experiment (0.52 /min and 41,799 s); the highest level of visual interactions was observed during the Tara expedition (33,167 s). DISCUSSION: We found that confinement generates stress manifestations vs. isolation, that isolation enhances social relashionships vs. confinement, and that the crew adapted positively to both environments.

Time effects, cultural influences, and individual differences in crew behavior during the Mars-500 experiment.

INTRODUCTION: This note provides an overview of salient factors that could have an impact on the behavior of a crew in an isolated and confined environment during a very long-term adaptive process. We present the Mars-500 experiment, which took place in Moscow, Russia, over 520 d from June 5, 2010, to November 4, 2011. It was designed to simulate a 250-d interplanetary mission from Earth to Mars, a 30-d orbital stay with a Mars landing, and a 240-d interplanetary mission from Mars back to Earth. The six-person crew was composed of three Russians, two Europeans, and one Chinese. METHODS: We applied the ethological method based on observation, description, and quantification of nonverbal behavior expressed by actions and interactions, as well as verbal behavior expressed through positions and communications. These events were scored with The Observer XT software from video recordings made every 2 wk during a daily life activity at breakfast time and every month during a group discussion task. RESULTS: We show that the frequency of occurrences of personal actions, visual interactions, facial expressions and collateral acts are linked to certain phases, periods, and temporal points of the mission. Verbal communications in English and in Russian involve prevalent language associated with place preferences and preferential relationships among the crewmembers. DISCUSSION: We found evidence that the Mars-500 crew behavior was dependent on time, culture, and the individual.

The ethological approach as a new way of investigating behavioural health in the Arctic.

OBJECTIVES: From an interdisciplinary perspective, the goal of our research in human ethology is to investigate the adaptive dynamics of small groups in isolation and confinement with a particular emphasis on unexplored environments, from circumpolar missions on earth to interplanetary missions in space. STUDY DESIGN: The ethological observations were designed to monitor the polar teams on the Subantarctic islands, the Antarctic continent and the Arctic Ocean. The working hypothesis viewed the periodic changes in the groups' organization as optimal behavioural strategies in extreme living and working conditions. METHODS: The general methodological feature is a quantitative description of observable events based on the motor activity of individuals, interactions and communications among individuals and spatial mapping in collective areas. RESULTS: We observed group organization, group disorganization and group reorganization over extended time periods in the polar stations. Cultural grouping and gender-based individualities were observed as well. Focusing on the Tara Expedition in the Arctic, we observed variations in spatial indicators, including inter-individual positions, and in temporal indicators, like collective times, as behavioural strategies for preventing the monotony of social life. CONCLUSION: The ethological approach, using non-invasive techniques of observation, description and quantification of spontaneous human behaviour, offers an innovative and complementary tool for sociocultural approaches, enhancing the knowledge of contemporary circumpolar micro-societies. With the changing of environmental context, the Arctic natives would undertake changes in their group organization for maintaining their behavioural health. Such social adaptation could be investigated with this new approach in the field.

A software-based solution for research in space ethology.

INTRODUCTION: In this paper we present details of new applications of a software-based system for human ethological investigations in space missions and analogous settings. The studies address astronauts' motor adaptation to microgravity during short-term stays and the crews' social behavior in isolation and confinement over extended time periods. The current working hypotheses are based on differences observed in multicultural and mixed-gender crews for future interplanetary missions. METHODS: In our approach, we use The Observer XT computer application to facilitate the observation, description, and quantification of behavioral data collected in parabolic flights, isolation and confinement campaigns, and polar missions. We implemented video recording protocols based on a goal-directed orientation task and daily life activities. RESULTS: The software integrates several steps: project management, definition of a coding scheme, annotation of videos linked to external data, data selection, and analysis. Numerical outcomes are presented. We show differences in motor skills between male (resting: 22%) and female (flexing/stretching: 22%) subjects in parabolic flights. We did not observe significant differences in social behavior by nationality during the isolation and confinement campaign. Notable findings include cultural grouping (20% of place preferences) and gender-based individuality (15%) during wintering at the polar base. DISCUSSION: The Observer XT may be a valuable tool to synchronize behavioral events with video files and bring forth visual representations and statistical analysis. It will be used for the next interdisciplinary project on the Mars 500 experiment to study physical ability, psychological capabilities, and behavioral performance over a 520-d stay in a simulated ground-based environment.

Ethological indicators of isolated and confined teams in the perspective of missions to Mars.

INTRODUCTION: This study proposes an ethological overview of the social behavior of confined and isolated teams within three experimental chambers and at a polar base during long-duration campaigns. These were undertaken as analogous conditions of the mobility restraint and social constraint to which Mars teams would have to adapt. METHOD: The ethological method consisted of weekly observations and descriptions of the subjects' motor actions and spatial positions at dinnertime, then evaluating their levels of frequency in terms of distances, orientations, and dispersions, as well as facial expressions and body movements. RESULTS: Changes in social behavior indicate different adaptive strategies over time and according to the situation. In large or open areas, interindividual distances are constant. In reduced habitats, the frequency of personal distances decreases and the frequency of public distances increases with high levels of social distance and body mobility from the initial period to the final period. Increasing spatial dispersion and decreasing social orientations indicate low levels of sociality within the teams at the mid-period. Frequent collateral activities during long-duration confinement campaigns indicate high levels of stress in the team members. DISCUSSION: Such ethological indicators could be used in future interplanetary mission scenarios.

Ethological analysis of a polar team in the French Antarctic station Dumont d'Urville as simulation of space teams for future interplanetary missions.

This new ethological study focuses on the co-adaptation of the crew's spatial behavior to social isolation in a polar base thus simulating long-term living and working of a space team. The method consisted in drawing the subjects' position (n=13) on an observation map at the midday and evening meals at the Dumont d'Urville French station in Antarctica, daily during the summer campaigns and weekly during the winter-over of the TA46 mission. Quantitative data are presented in geocentric (positions), allocentric (distances) and egocentric (orientations) analyses with an emphasis on three adaptative periods (first 3 months, intermediary 2 months and last 3 months of isolation). Results show a large space occupancy during the first week after arrival and the last week before departure from the polar base, and a team-members' grouping during the winter-over. On the over-all time, the inter-individual distances increase. The social orientations are higher at the beginning than at the end of the mission. Discussion underlies the pertinent use of such ethological indicators collected from polar stations as predictors of well-being and optimal-working of the future orbital and planetary stations users.