Between daily living, telemedicine activities and moon-walking simulations, participants in the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 9 project helped National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) researchers study performance ability, problem-solving and team cohesion issues that could affect long-duration space flights.
"The NEEMO undersea mission is a similar experience in key ways to what future space travelers might encounter," said Dr. David Dinges, team leader of NSBRI's Neurobehavioral and Psychosocial Factors Team and principal investigator on the project. "Crew members live and work together in a small space, isolated from the outside world, and must effectively perform difficult tasks at a high level of alertness, both as individuals and a team."
Physician astronaut, Dr. Dave Williams of Canada, led the NEEMO undersea excursion in Aquarius off the Florida coast. Aquarius, the only underwater laboratory in the world, is owned and funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and operated by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Two additional astronauts, Nicole Stott and Ron Garan, and Dr. Tim Broderick, a physician at the University of Cincinnati, rounded out the crew. Jim Buckley and Ross Hein of UNCW provided undersea engineering support.
The NSBRI study used surveys, physiologic sensors, video analysis, cognitive tests, journaling and the testing of new technologies designed for isolated conditions. One such technology involved computer recognition of participants' facial expressions, recorded on video during telemedicine activities, to inconspicuously detect levels of psychological distress. Refining behavior-monitoring technologies so that astronauts and aquanauts barely notice them is a goal of th
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Contact: Lauren Hammit
lhammit@bcm.edu
713-798-7595
National Space Biomedical Research Institute
9-May-2006