Can the human mind survive the lonely journey to Mars?
Three kilometers above sea level at the bottom of the world is a near-unbearably cold desert. The icy landscape is featureless and flat; useful in the height of summer when the mercury climbs to -30 Celsius and small airplanes can land and take off in the light. But now it’s winter, it’s been dark for a month and temperatures are down to -80. No plane is coming and 13 people are all alone.
For the same reasons, Concordia is an ideal place to study the effects of extreme isolation and extreme climate on the human body and mind. That’s why Albertsen is there. She’s helping humanity make it to Mars and beyond.- Credit: Nadja Albertsen/ESA/IPEV/PRNA “That’s an extreme amount of isolation, confinement and distance from Earth. You have to really pre-predict and anticipate the supplies, resources needed to address all of the issues that might come up, and do the risk management,” she explains. “People have a lot of ‘unknown unknowns’ to ferret out.”
The European Space Agency has run a research program at Concordia since 2005, rotating its medical sponsor every year. That makes Albertsen the 15th researcher to take on the role. Albertsen’s experiences in Greenland, the ESA told her, were what secured her seat on the plane to Concordia in November 2018.
Albertsen collects data on behalf of nine science programs in Europe who applied to the ESA. Some experiments are inherited, others new. Because the winter crew is so small, many experiments run for three years so there’s a big enough sample size. The ESA research projects for 2019 are as follows:Assessing body-composition changes in prolonged periods of low sun exposure and reduced physical activity. Sleep, stress and diet are other factors.
Sleep is one of the perennial issues at Concordia. Problems can begin before winter -- although its more prevalent then -- and can also be a symptom of “Winter-over Syndrome” . Studies have found the phases of sleep are reordered in Antarctica, affecting sleep quality. Crew members can struggle to sleep for a decent length of time, feel frequently dozy, or have outright insomnia. Countermeasures include exercise and therapy lamps.
Midwinter on June 21 is celebrated in fine style at Concordia. A five-day holiday includes a baking competition, treasure hunt, karaoke, gambling night, international fancy dress and the annual Miss Concordia drag competition. The station exchanges midwinter greetings with other Antarctic bases, attaching photographs and dinner invitations no one has a hope of making.
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