Designing for the edge: Invisible systems as behavioral amplifiers and friction points in analog missions

Abstract

Space is difficult—humans who live and work in space experience life in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) conditions. To understand the impact on humans in this type of environment and the challenges faced by individuals in these conditions, analog missions have played a significant role in problem-solving for spaceflight research. Analogs offer a chance to closely examine these risks and test strategies to mitigate the challenges. To adjust to these conditions, individuals and teams have received training and support that mitigates the adverse and challenging effects of the environment. Historical research has focused on issues of behavior, social, environmental, and cognitive performance as mechanisms of linear performance outcomes. While that research provides a solid foundation for understanding the challenges of living in ICE conditions, we argue that the social systems in which those conditions exist create aberrant behaviors by individual team members—utilizing an interdisciplinary theoretical approach to analyze aberrant crew behavior. The examination of behavioral vignettes through complex adaptive systems acknowledges that behavioral situations are dynamic and adaptive and do not occur in a vacuum but rather through dynamic changes throughout the mission. It is these systems that create an emergent behavioral environment, which we will explore through behavioral vignettes. We conclude that hierarchical systems are neither inherently good nor inherently bad but rather part of the dynamic nature of space and analog missions. This paper provides insights that may help teams and support team members recognize and address these situations.