Delays in space/ground communication due to signal latency will present a significant challenge to the collaboration between artemis crews and support personnel on earth

Past research examining the impact of signal latency observed that the quality and effectiveness of remote team members' communication suffered irrespective of the delay duration or media (voice or texting). However this work focused on latencies more characteristic of mars missions than the shorter delays characteristic of lunar exploration. Because the delay at the moon will be quite short space crews and ground support may be inclined to communicate via voice as they currently do in ISS operations. However a small study of remote collaboration suggests that latencies even as short as 3 seconds could degrade the quality of team members' voice communication and impair their ability to maintain common ground -- which is essential for effective communication and perceptions of connectedness between remote team members. The latter aspect seems particularly pertinent in light of research indicating that social relationships between space crew and mission support on earth are critical to their effective collaboration. The aim of the proposed effort is to explore the viability of voice communication under low signal latencies representative of lunar missions and to examine braiding a software-delivered text communication tool as an alternative to voice communication under these latencies. Braiding was specifically designed to facilitate space/ground communication and collaboration and to promote a sense of copresence and connectedness between remote team members despite signal latency. As a proxy for space/ground collaboration the proposed work will focus on the private medical conference (PMC) a type of operational conversation that not only has vital health implications for crews during exploration missions but also requires organized and coherent communication has measurable performance components and rests on the perception of being engaged in a real conversation with a real person. The proposed research will involve a human-in-the-loop design used successfully in past research on remote communication. The study will be conducted online with current NASA flight surgeons and will involve two test sessions about one week apart. Pairs of participants will form a space/ground team role-playing a PMC under various signal latencies using braiding or voice communication dependent on test session. PMC scenarios will be developed with the help of a subject-matter expert and will involve an ambiguous health issue experienced by the astronaut and requiring diagnosis by the flight surgeon (MD). The participant role-playing the astronaut will receive medically relevant information sufficient for the MD participant to identify the underlying cause ( correct diagnosis as per scenario design) from several plausible explanations. The study design will enable US to (1) determine whether short latencies undermine the viability and benefits of voice communication during pmcs in contrast to braiding and (2) compare subjective (e.g. ratings of communication quality and copresence) and objective measures (e.g. communication effectiveness and task performance) of voice VS. Braiding for pmcs. IT is hypothesized that braiding will be equal to synchronous voice communication on all measures and superior to voice under time delay. The proposed work relates to the expected benefits of braiding as an effective countermeasure to the risks of communication delays to the functioning of the space/ground team and to crew health during artemis missions. Specifically the work will address HRR gaps team-105--need to identify countermeasures to support team function – and bmed 106--identify effective strategies to maintain personal relations/interactions to mitigate adverse c/p/PSY/n outcomes during increasingly earth-independent long duration missions.