Most likely, we will see humans set foot on Mars in the period we live in. If the current space race between national space agencies and private space companies continues like this, we can even expect to see permanent settlements set up on the Moon or Mars.
But researchers have no idea how a team of astronauts isolated about 380 million kilometers from Earth would survive or be successful in such a scenario. Will they stay in constant communication with the Earth, working in perfect harmony as a team? Or will they fight among themselves, cut off communication with Earth and form their own Mars colony?
Russian researchers aimed to solve this before spending billions of dollars on space travel by placing a group of humans in a Mars colonization simulation.
The SIRIUS project aimed to determine how the psychology of astronauts would be affected during long-duration spaceflights. The research results were published in the journal Frontiers in Physiology. The experiments, conducted in 2017 and 2019, one lasting 17 days and the other 120 days, aimed to observe how a team that would live in isolation in an extraterrestrial location would behave.
The results revealed that the scientists were right in their initial concerns. Communication delay due to distance, combined with being away from Earth for such a long time, means that astronauts are moving away from the mission command center and become almost autonomous.
Previous simulations had suggested that after astronauts embark on their journey, they would begin to leave mission control, reducing the number of situations they would report to. New results sometimes lead to negative and sometimes positive comments. While the crew was communicating regularly with the mission command center during the first half of the journey, there were gradual breakouts after “landing on Mars”. They began to pay less attention to the recommendations of the mission command center, to act on their own.
Although it is a good thing that they are trying to solve the problems on their own, the fact that they are moving away from the mission command center is seen as worrying
Another SIRIUS experiment is currently underway. In the experiment, which began on November 4, the astronauts will remain in isolation for 8 months. The data obtained as a result of the experiment will be shared with the public again.
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