Human exploration of Mars will present an opportunity to conduct in-depth research programs that include the entire scientific process and take advantage of the human capacity for creative, problem solving based responses to local conditions. Collaboration is an important factor that can leverage human observational skills, creative problem solving, and critical data analysis to increase research output efficiency and quality. The light-time communication delay imposed by interplanetary distances is a barrier to collaboration on Mars missions and requires a paradigm shift from Earth-based "ground control teams" to "ground support teams" and more crew autonomy. Potential methods for facilitating peer collaboration on human Mars missions include (1) remote Earth-based support, (2) cross-trained crewmembers, and (3) parallel-specialist crew selection. The experience of researchers on Mars analog environment missions at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah indicates the importance of in situ parallel-specialist collaboration for leveraging human exploration and research skills during Mars analog research. Remote Earth-based collaboration was found to be a vital support to research activities while cross-trained crew collaboration was reported to be of limited but valuable use. The relative impact of the three collaborative methods is dependent on the mode of communication and the scientific training background of the collaborator.
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