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When work and private life mix: Long-term isolated environments may blur boundaries for space crews

With the advancement of long-term missions to the moon and Mars, crews are expected to live together in isolated and confined environments for a long time. Thus, relationships and interactions among crew members can play a significant role in the success of missions.

A new study investigated the interpersonal relationships among five participants in a 240-day closed experiment called SIRIUS-21 conducted in Moscow in 2021 with the objective of quantifying the process of change in interpersonal relationships. The research is in the journal Acta Astronautica.

The results revealed that conflicts and separation emerged among the participants during the early stages of the experiment, followed by the stabilization of interpersonal relationships through intervention conducted by mental health professionals.

Furthermore, the study observed a tendency toward the blurring of boundaries between task-related activities and personal activities as the experiment progressed. Although discord persisted between the two participants, team cohesion indicators remained, and performance levels remained consistently high.

These results indicate that in long-term confined-space missions, appropriate intervention from experts could effectively stabilize crew relationships and that conflicts between crew members and the blurring of boundaries between task-related and personal activities do not necessarily exert negative impacts on the team. Monitoring crew relationships in future, manned, long-term space missions will enable early detection of issues and provision of appropriate interventions.