Psychological Factors Associated with Habitat Design for Planetary Mission Simulators

Knowledge and experience of human and technological problems on long-duration missions to Moon and Mars, is at best minimal or worst-case non-existent, as these expeditions are yet to be undertaken. Problems stemming from isolation, inter-group relationships, human response to and interaction with spacecraft interiors in a confined isolated environment have been studied, but in limited ways. On future long-duration planetary missions, the internal environment of the habitat or transit vehicle will be of greater importance than it has been in low earth orbit or short-term missions to the Moon. This paper is in the realm of environmental psychology. In the context of designing space habitats for future long-term interplanetary human space missions, it postulates that it is ‘mission critical ’ to closely integrate ‘space architecture, cognitive sciences, human-technology interface design, environmental and personal psychology’. It points out that future planetary simulators are an opportunity to study the relationship between habitat design and crew psychology. The paper begins with an overview of the origin, scope and limitations of human factors as practiced in the aerospace industry. It presents two case studies that illustrate pas