Human Side of Mars Missions the Focus of Florida Tech Workshop – Florida Tech Now

MELBOURNE, FLA. With the focus so often on the rockets and technology required to reach Mars, less attention has been paid to another component critical to the success of future missions: the crewmember.

That changes later this month when researchers from across North America gather at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Floridas Atlantic coast for the Mars Mission Social Sciences Workshop.

Co-hosted by Florida Institute of Technologys Buzz Aldrin Space Institute and its Institute for Cross Cultural Management, the two-day event May 30-31 will bring together leading scholars from a variety of social science disciplines to develop common characterizations of the psychological, sociological and human performance challenges associated with permanent Mars colonization, and to consider the approaches and research needed to cope with these challenges.

The workshop opens with a welcome from Andrew Aldrin, director of the Buzz Aldrin Space Institute, and then shifts into sessions based on overarching topics: psychiatric health and disorders; group and team dynamics; international and cultural issues; human factors and human-centered design; and historical, sociological, and anthropological perspectives on colonization.

Within each session will be short presentations and panel discussions. Those are scheduled to include:

The trailblazing men and women who will one day travel to Mars face a long, arduous journey, Wildman said. We are hopeful that our research and shared scholarship will allow us to develop ways to improve the probability of making those journeys successful and safe.

The second day will be centered around forming small, multidisciplinary working groups focused on developing clear research agendas within the various sub-topics identified as critical during the first day. The second day will begin with a thorough pre-brief providing instructions and clear criteria for the outcomes of the working groups, and will conclude with formal brief-backs from each of the working groups, which should facilitate a productive wrap-up discussion and next steps.

The Mars mission will undoubtedly be an international one. Like many large scale challenges, the Mars mission is too complex for any one organization, or any one nation, to accomplish alone, said ICCM Executive Director Richard Griffith. Cultural competence of the crew and support team will be a key variable in mission success.

Wildman added, The intended final product of the workshop is a research agenda report that is truly integrative and interdisciplinary.

For more information, visit https://buzzaldrinspaceinstitute.com/event/mars-mission-social-sciences-workshop/.

To arrange for media coverage, please contact Adam Lowenstein (adam@fit.edu) or Shelley Preston (spreston@fit.edu) in the University News Bureau.

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Human Side of Mars Missions the Focus of Florida Tech Workshop - Florida Tech Now