Irregular sleep cycle could hamper mission to Mars

Last Updated: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 - 19:26

London: Difference in sleeping pattern of astronauts could jeopardise their future mission to Mars, a new study has found.

The first results from a simulation of mission to Mars shows that some of the crew experienced isolation and mild depression, the BBC News reported.

The findings of the research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests differences in the sleeping patterns of the crew caused problems, suggesting that not all current astronauts will be suited for interplanetary travel.

The 17-month long Mars500 project investigated how crews would cope on a real mission.

"This illustrates that there are huge differences between individuals and what we need to do is select the right crew, people with the right stuff, and train them properly and once they are on the real mission to Mars," Mathias Basner, of the University of Pennsylvania was quoted as saying by BBC News.

Presently, no astronaut is in space for longer than six months on the International Space Station (ISS). The aim of the Mars500 project was to study the physical and psychological effects that the much longer journey to Mars might have on future astronauts.

The simulation involved six crew members including three Russians, two Europeans and one Chinese volunteer.

During the research, the men had only limited contact with the outside world.


After nearly 100 different experiments that were carried out to assess the impact of the journey on the men, the sleep experiment found that one crew member lost his natural day/night rhythm completely.


"He became somewhat isolated. For 20 per cent of the time this crew member was either the only crew member awake or the only person sleeping which could potentially be a problem for team cohesion," Basner added.

Most of the crew members began to sleep more and become less active as the mission wore on, but one crew member did the opposite. He slept less and less during the mission until he became chronically sleep deprived.

All the crew had to carry out performance tests once a week. The sleep deprived member was responsible for the majority of the errors in the tests.
Another crew member developed a mild depression.

Problems manifested themselves at between two and four months and so, the research team suggests, potential interplanetary astronauts could be screened for their suitability by being put through a much shorter simulation than the Mars500 project.

Another problem identified by the researchers was the dim fluorescent lighting which was not bright enough to simulate daylight and no protocol for differentiating between day and night in the simulated spacecraft. It was up to the crew members when to turn the light on and off.

"Sleep deprivation is going to happen with crews and has the potential to affect mission safety," Kevin Fong, who is an expert on space medicine was quoted as saying by the BBC.


First Published: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 - 19:26

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