When it comes to building the interior of a spacecraft, engineers often prioritize function over aesthetics, focusing on materials and hardware that are both safe and effective for executing the vehicle’s intended mission. Up until now, astronauts have mostly experienced short trips to space, usually lasting less than a year. Because of this, spacecraft interiors have revolved around optimizing volume and less on giving people peace of mind. But some scientists say it’s time to consider another crucial factor when designing a spacecraft’s insides: how it will affect the behavior of the passengers?
For astronauts traveling vast distances — perhaps on a trip to Mars — the design of a spacecraft’s interior could be a critical tool for keeping people happy and healthy during the journey. Room will likely be limited on any vehicle we send to the Red Planet; getting massive objects into space takes a lot of energy and money, so the interiors on these transports could be tight. And passengers will be stuck with the same group of people for the entire ride — a trip that could take years to complete. All of those conditions could create a nightmare scenario for a person’s psychological health, causing stress, bad sleep schedules, depression, and other negative feelings that might affect their time in space.
That’s why a new workshop plans to address this often-overlooked aspect of space travel. Space^2 will bring together astronauts, health professionals, and design experts in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to discuss what types of technologies and hardware deep space missions can include inside their spacecraft to make interplanetary journeys a more enjoyable experience.
“Not much has been done in terms of the design and interior of the spacecraft,” Dorit Donoviel, director for the Translational Research Institute for Space Health and one of the conference organizers, said in an interview with The Verge. “It’s really about where they want to place their levers, their displays, what kind of materials they’ll use in terms of preventing bacterial growth. I don’t think there’s been too much emphasis on the behavioral or really the human side of some of these interior environments.”
There aren’t any correct solutions to these problems yet, but the Space^2 conference could put engineers on the right path. And while a human mission to Mars is still many years away, experts say it’s time to think about this now so we can plan the design of these spacecraft well in advance. If behavioral health isn’t taken into consideration, adverse reactions could be disastrous for deep space travel.“We really don’t know how these folks will react to such a confined space. And the consequence of that is loss of crew or loss of mission,” says Donoviel.
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