Using analog missions to develop effective team composition strategies for long duration space exploration astronaut crews for long-duration multi-national missions will endure many physical…

The University of Hawaii has been awarded a $1,047,717.25 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to investigate individual and crew characteristics that may affect crew function and performance for long-duration space missions. The grant, which has no set-aside designation, will fund the use of analog missions to develop effective team composition strategies. The goal is to provide NASA with a set of tools to optimize crew composition for long-duration, multi-national space exploration missions that will face physical and psychological challenges. The University of Hawaii is the prime contractor for this grant, which is part of NASA's broader efforts to enable and advance long-duration human space exploration.

Using analog missions to develop effective team composition strategies for long duration space exploration astronaut crews for long-duration multi-national missions will endure many physical challenges and psychological stressors, some largely predictable in type and timing, others unpredictable. Crews are likely to be diverse with respect to educational background, skill set, ethnicity, gender, leadership/followership styles etc., yet they must form a cohesive team, and continue to function together at a high level of objective performance and remain responsive to mission support over the duration of the mission. Crew cohesion will be more fragile at times of high stress and fatigue, yet those are the times when performance must be unimpaired if the crew is to succeed. Adding to the challenge, the pool from which crews must be selected may be significantly constrained by other factors, such as past radiation exposure. For these reasons, IT is essential that we understand how best to compose and support crews for long-duration space missions, and that we develop a set of validated tools to this end. In order to enable and advance long duration human space exploration, we propose to investigate individual and crew characteristics that may affect crew function and performance, by measuring both characteristics and performance on a range of simulated missions in analog environments. Based on the correlations found, we will develop a predictive model of the relationship between crew composition and performance. We will validate and enhance this model via data collected on four 4-month HI-seas missions, and use the results to provide NASA with a set of tools to optimize its crew composition strategies.