An international research team studied a 10-month overwintering mission at Concordia Station in Antarctica to learn more about how small crews cope with isolation and constant close contact, according to ScienceDaily.
The project was led by Jan Schmutz of the University of Zurich and Andrea Cantisani of the University of Bern. Concordia Station is one of the most remote places on Earth, with winter temperatures dropping to minus 80 C, making it a useful stand-in for future missions to the Moon or Mars.
The study followed 12 crew members who filled out questionnaires four times during the mission and wore sensors that measured how often and how long they were near one another. Researchers used that data to track loneliness, trust, conflict, social relationships, team cohesion and perceived performance over time.
According to the researchers, being around others more often did not always lead to better social outcomes. In fact, more frequent contact was linked with more conflict, more mistrust and lower performance, while the crew gradually formed smaller subgroups, often along language or nationality lines.
The researchers say the findings may be relevant not only for future space travel, but also for submarines, offshore platforms and other isolated environments. They also noted that wearable proximity sensors worked reliably in the extreme Antarctic conditions.
