Occupations on Mars

When you think about the contexts of occupational participation, I bet Mars has never crossed your mind. But with NASA's renewed commitment to take humans to the red planet in the 2030's, the role occupational therapy will play in mounting such an effort is becoming increasingly clear. Granted, humans have been spacefaring since the mid-20th century, but the demands of deep space travel will test the limits of what we are capable of both physiologically and technologically. In fact, one of the biggest questions being researched by NASA scientists now is how the human mind will tolerate the stresses of a deep space mission that could last up to 450 days or longer. Other factors being assessed include extended periods of weightlessness, long-term exposure to radiation, and resource conservation, all of which will prove critical to the survival of those brave women and men who elect to go farther than any humans in history.

Dr. Janis Davis, OTR/L, and a team of researchers recently completed a study assessing the role of Occupational Science and deep space exploration. In it, Dr. Davis and her colleagues outline how therapeutic interventions can be used to mitigate the harmful effects that prolonged weightlessness and long duration space travel can have on the mind and body. One such intervention involves placing pressure on the soles of one's feet, which can promote the sense of being upright in a micro-gravity environment that is otherwise filled with contradictory visual and proprioceptive cues. Another proposed intervention includes using video and virtual reality (VR) headsets, which could provide sensory input to improve mood and cognition. Perhaps what is most encouraging about the study is the perception among occupational therapy practitioners that Occupational Science is indeed relevant to space travel. The results of a survey administered by Dr. Davis and her team found that 97.6% of respondents agreed that occupational therapy interventions can be used by astronauts during deep space missions, thereby enhancing individual and group performance of crew members in achieving mission success. Intervention areas cited most frequently by OT practitioners who participated in the study include psychosocial, leisure, biomechanical, and sensory-perceptual.

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But what would such interventions actually look like on Mars? How would they be incorporated into an astronaut's busy schedule of conducting research while also trying to survive on another planet? More specifically, what occupations would be meaningful to someone who is 34 million miles away from everything and everyone they have ever known? To find out, I contacted Cyprien Verseux, a French astrobiologist, astronaut hopeful, and Ph.D. student at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. You can check out his amazing blog here. Cyprien was one of six scientists chosen to participate in HI-SEAS (Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation), which is a year-long simulated mission to Mars used to collect data critical to our understanding of what kind of people are best suited for such a daring mission. Cyprien was selected to conduct research on how to survive on Mars using as many martian resources as possible. The Habitat, which is where he and five other scientists spent an entire year, is located 8,200 feet above sea level in an isolated Mars-like site on the Mauna Loa side of the Big Island of Hawaii. To make the simulation as realistic as possible, they were only allowed to communicate via email and file drop, and they experienced the same 20-minute delay that astronauts will during an actual mission to Mars. Other than email, they were not allowed to communicate directly with anyone other than their fellow crew members. Although they could leave the Habitat to explore the surrounding area, they had to wear a spacesuit in order to do so. For the duration of the mission, which was the fourth of its kind, Cyprien and his crew members occupied 525,600 minutes with limited sleep, limited leisure participation, research, exercise, and more research, all the while breathing recycled air and strictly conserving each and every resource. All things considered, it would come as no surprise to an OT practitioner that the crew members experienced an imbalance in occupations. To make the most of his time and limited resources onboard, Cyprien would have to get creative.

To find out more about his experience, I began by asking Cyprien what he did for participation in leisure activities besides maintaining his blog.

"I did carry [out] research projects, though I'm not sure this should be considered leisure, as I am a Ph.D. student; it would rather be my regular job," he said.

He also told me that he did a lot of exercising, including the treadmill, pullups, ab workouts and, rather surprisingly, weightlifting with food packages, which I thought was a pretty ingenious. Leisure exploration and participation also took place during the mission.

"As for unambiguous leisure time, I tried a few different things in the beginning: weekly group activities (salsa, board games, and movie nights), learning to draw and learning Morse code (both with a crewmate), learning and playing a musical instrument (the ukulele), learning Russian (and practicing other languages), reading."

Cyprien said he stopped some of those activities after the first few months since leisure time was very limited, choosing only to keep board games, movie nights, the ukulele, and reading. I was also interested to know how he and his fellow crew members handled conflict and dealt with a lack of privacy. He informed me that the crew had dinner together every day while also holding a group meeting at the same time.

"Any topic could be brought up, and we encouraged people to tell when something was bothering them before it created too much resentment," he told me. "Conflicts were solved by open communication, trying to remain objective. Since we had a common goal, we were able to work together even during conflicts."

He also told me that they had all received conflict management training prior to the simulation, which was not surprising considering that NASA was constantly measuring their stress levels with personal wearable devices, urine samples, and questionaries. As for privacy? Cyprien said the walls of the individual compartments were far from sound-proof.

Based on Cyprien's responses, it is clear that engagement in meaningful and necessary occupations was critical to the success of his mission. He explored several leisure activities, ultimately choosing those that were consistent with the demands of his environment. The research collected by NASA will undoubtedly prove to be useful for any future missions to Mars or other destinations in our Solar System.

At this point, you might be asking yourself what all of this means for Occupational Science and the future of occupational therapy. For me, Cyprien's experiences during HI-SEAS not only underscore the importance of engaging in meaningful occupations, they also confirm that, as Mary Reilly once said, we can influence the state of our own health with the use of our hands. This is true no matter where we are, even if we happen to find ourselves on the surface of Mars. What I find so amazing about all of this is that we could have sent humans to Mars years ago if not for, among other limitations, our lack of understanding regarding how a deprivation of occupations will affect the human mind on a trip to the red planet. This underscores not only the relevance of Occupational Science to deep space travel but its necessity in preparing for it as well. After all, occupations and the need to engage in them exist wherever humans exist. Cyprien Verseux is proof of that.