The Next Giant Leap for Space Human Factors: The Opportunities

Objective Propose areas of future space human factors research. Background Deep space, long-duration human spaceflight missions to the Moon and Mars still require advances in space human factors research. Key drivers relate to astronauts living and working in isolation, new novel technologies required to accomplish exploration missions, and the longer durations of these. Results Three areas of research are proposed for methods and techniques: (1) to enable more autonomous astronauts; (2) to monitor crew and improve ground team situation awareness; and (3) to detect and support changes in long-duration team coordination. Conclusions Future human exploration missions will benefit from advances in space human factors research. Application Human factors researchers can contribute to human spaceflight by prioritizing these research topics.