The Human Factor In A Mission To Mars

A manned mission to Mars is faced with challenges and topics that may not be obvious but of great importance and challenging for such a mission. This is the first book that collects contributions from scholars in various fields, from astronomy and medicine, to theology and philosophy, addressing such topics. The discussion goes beyond medical and technological challenges of such a deep-space mission. The focus is on human nature, human emotions and biases in such a new environment. The primary audience for this book are all researchers interested in the human factor in a space mission including philosophers, social scientists, astronomers, and others. This volume will also be of high interest for a much wider audience like the non-academic world, or for students.

Approaching the settlement of our Moon from a practical perspective, this book is well suited for space program planners. It addresses a variety of human factor topics involved in colonizing Earth's Moon, including: history, philosophy, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, politics & policy, sociology, and anthropology. Each chapter identifies the complex, interdisciplinary issues of the human factor that arise in the early phases of settlement on the Moon. Besides practical issues, there is some emphasis placed on preserving, protecting, and experiencing the lunar environment across a broad range of occupations, from scientists to soldiers and engineers to construction workers. The book identifies utilitarian and visionary factors that shape human lives on the Moon. It offers recommendations for program planners in the government and commercial sectors and serves as a helpful resource for academic researchers. Together, the coauthors ask and attempt to answer: “How will lunar society be different?”

Advanced Technology for Human Support in Space was written in response to a request from NASA's Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications (OLMSA) to evaluate its Advanced Human Support Technology Program. This report reviews the four major areas of the program: advanced life support (ALS), environmental monitoring and control (EMC), extravehicular activities (EVA), and space human factors (SHF). The focus of this program is on long-term technology development applicable to future human long-duration space missions, such as for a hypothetical new mission to the Moon or Mars.

Space Safety and Human Performance provides a comprehensive reference for engineers and technical managers within aerospace and high technology companies, space agencies, operators, and consulting firms. The book draws upon the expertise of the world’s leading experts in the field and focuses primarily on humans in spaceflight, but also covers operators of control centers on the ground and behavior aspects of complex organizations, thus addressing the entire spectrum of space actors. During spaceflight, human performance can be deeply affected by physical, psychological and psychosocial stressors. Strict selection, intensive training and adequate operational rules are used to fight performance degradation and prepare individuals and teams to effectively manage systems failures and challenging emergencies. The book is endorsed by the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS). 2019 PROSE Awards - Winner: Category: Engineering and Technology: Association of American Publishers Provides information on critical aspects of human performance in space missions Addresses the issue of human performance, from physical and psychosocial stressors that can degrade performance, to selection and training principles and techniques to enhance performance Brings together essential material on: cognition and human error; advanced analysis methods such as human reliability analysis; environmental challenges and human performance in space missions; critical human factors and man/machine interfaces in space systems design; crew selection and training; and organizational behavior and safety culture Includes an endorsement by the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS)

This study, commissioned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), examines the role of robotic exploration missions in assessing the risks to the first human missions to Mars. Only those hazards arising from exposure to environmental, chemical, and biological agents on the planet are assessed. To ensure that it was including all previously identified hazards in its study, the Committee on Precursor Measurements Necessary to Support Human Operations on the Surface of Mars referred to the most recent report from NASA's Mars Exploration Program/ Payload Analysis Group (MEPAG) (Greeley, 2001). The committee concluded that the requirements identified in the present NRC report are indeed the only ones essential for NASA to pursue in order to mitigate potential hazards to the first human missions to Mars.

In Psychology and Human Performance in Space Programs: Extreme Application, operations experts from multiple space agencies, with support from spaceflight researchers, outline existing and proposed operations for selecting, training, and supporting space crews who currently live and work on the International Space Station, and who are preparing for future missions to the moon and Mars. Highlighting applied psychology in spaceflight whilst acknowledging real-world complexities that occur when integrating across an international, multi-agency collective, this volume provides both historical and current perspectives toward spaceflight operations, with expert contributions from NASA and international partners such as the Japanese Space Agency, Russian space researchers, and the Canadian Space Agency. Helpfully outlining the progress that has been made so far, this book includes topics such as the selection and hiring of astronauts, the process of training a crew for a mission to Mars, and workload and mission planning. Discussing operational psychology in space and on the ground, this book looks to the future of research and operational needs for future missions to Mars, with an essay from astronaut Dr. Don Pettit on his experiences in space and how the Mars mission will challenge us in new ways. This second of two volumes will be of interest to professionals in the field of human factors and psychology in extreme environments.

In this book, Donald Rapp looks at human missions to Mars from a technological perspective. He divides the mission into a number of stages: Earth’s surface to low-Earth orbit (LEO); departing from LEO toward Mars; Mars orbit insertion and entry, descent and landing; ascent from Mars; trans-Earth injection from Mars orbit and Earth return. A mission to send humans to explore the surface of Mars has been the ultimate goal of planetary exploration since the 1950s, when von Braun conjectured a flotilla of 10 interplanetary vessels carrying a crew of at least 70 humans. Since then, more than 1,000 studies were carried out. This third edition provides extensive updating and additions to the last edition, including new sections, and many new figures and tables, and references.

This reference work gathers all of the latest technologies, information, definitions and explanations of spacecraft life support systems, while providing in-depth coverage of the current knowledge of the business of keeping astronauts alive during their missions. It is intended that this MRW be the go-to reference work not only for aerospace engineers, but also for graduate and undergraduate aerospace engineers and space scientists. The area of spacecraft life support is comprised of dozens of specialties and sub-specialties within the fields of engineering, biophysics, and medicine. As space agencies around the world pursue cutting-edge life support technologies, much more information and data is accumulated. When humans move out into the solar system to stay for long durations, the most immediate challenge will be the provision of reliable and robust life support systems in locations devoid of food, air, and water. These life support systems must provide these commodities in each phase of spaceflight, including intra-vehicular activity (IVA) and extra-vehicular activity (EVA). Systems supporting human life must also fulfill myriad requirements: exceptional reliability in the space environment, allowing maintenance and component replacement in space; reduced resupply mass of consumables and spares; the ability to utilize local planetary resources for self sufficiency; and minimized mass power and volume requirements. These requirements will assume ever greater importance as bolder missions are envisioned and more sophisticated life support systems are required. For example, the next decade could see human missions to Mars and a return to the Moon. In the not-so-distant future, there is the prospect of Mars One and the creation of a permanent extraterrestrial colony. It may appear that a suitable environment can be created simply by reproducing terrestrial environmental conditions within a vehicle. In reality, it is first necessary to define the environmental characteristics humans require and match these requirements with the myriad design constraints. This is no easy task, because implementing these environmental parameters within a spacecraft can be challenging, while balancing the various requirements and constraints can test the abilities of even the most gifted aerospace engineer. Yet it is a crucial field of study and the experts contributing to this volume are on the very front lines.

This volume collects papers from more than 70 U.S. and foreign experts, including astronauts, scientists, engineers, technologists, medical doctors, psychologists, and economists to share their views and thoughts on a human mission to Mars.