THE PERFECT BORING SITUATION – IN VIEW OF DESIGNING ONBOARD COUNTERMEASURES TO MONOTONY ISOLATION DURING TRANSFER STAGES OF EXTENDED EXPLORATION MISSIONS

摘要

In contemporary orbital missions, workloads are so high and varied that crew may rarely experience stretches ofmonotony. However, in historical orbital long duration missions, experiences of monotony were, indeed, reportedanecdotally by crew. Remedies appeared to be at hand, including a constant visual connection to Earth providing arich source of stimulation and past-time activity, regular direct audio contact to the ground, visiting crew, anddesignated 'surprise' packages containing novelty items, correspondence and fresh produce delivered with cargo.However, all these countermeasures - which were relatively successful in addressing what is essentially anoperational issue - are not feasible in the remote context of an extended mission scenario. Particularly in- andoutbound cruising stages are characterised by longer, comparably uneventful stretches of low workload, coupledwith confinement and unchanging vehicle surroundings. While the challenge of monotony has been pointed out ascritical in taxonomies of exploration-related further research needs, it has received less explicit attention from ahabitation design perspective than other human behaviour and performance issues. This paper aims to address thisgap through an introductory overview on the theory and application of design-based mitigation strategies. Followingan introduction of key concepts surrounding the phenomenon of monotony as such, a summary of the existing bodyof literature from the orbital experience is given and models of mitigation strategies outlined. Based on a situationalcharacterisation of a typical transfer stage scenario, monotony is conceptualised as a threefold model of sensory,social and spatio-temporal isolation that may exacerbate other psychological stressors of the setting and negativelyaffect human behaviour and performance. In view of translating currently available orbital evidence into designrecommendations for an autonomous setting, a review conducted of published primary anecdotal evidence of crewon orbital and simulator missions in relation to their experience of monotony is summarised, highlighting threethemes of design-based countermeasures.