Psychology of Space Exploration
questionnaires at regular intervals throughout their stay. The ESA’s Mistacoba experi-
ment to profile how microbes spread and evolve in the station—an isolated and con-
fined environment—over time started in the 2005 season, when the first crew started
living at the station, and has also continued with subsequent crews. Starting from a
newly built clean environment, those conducting the study took samples from fixed
locations in the base as well as from crewmembers themselves.^53
Haughton-Mars ProjectOne of the first of dedicated research hybrid facilities was the Haughton-Mars
Project (HMP), initiated in 1996 when the National Research Council of the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences and NASA Ames Research Center sponsored a post-
doctoral proposal to study the Haughton Crater on Devon Island in the Canadian
Arctic as a potential analog for Mars. The program has expanded from a four-member
team in 1997 to a permanent habitat that hosts eight-week arctic summer field seasons
with 50 to 90 participants, multiple teams, and research projects that run from instru-
ment testing and development to biomedical and psychological evaluation. HMP
routinely supports participation by NASA; the Canadian Space Agency (CSA); the
Russian Institute for Space Research (IKI); various research institutions and univer-
sities in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom; and the U.S. Marine
Corps. It has been the subject of various documentaries made by such groups as the
National Geographic Society and Discovery Channel Canada.^54
Flashline Mars Arctic Research StationIn 2000, a second dedicated research facility was deployed on Devon Island,
jointly sponsored by the Haughton-Mars Project and the Mars Society: the Flashline
- European Space Agency, “The Concordia Station,” http://www.concordiastation.org/
(accessed 25 May 2010); ESA Research News, http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMBZA8A9HE_
research_0.html#subhead1 (accessed 18 June 2007). - The Mars Institute, “NASA Haughton-Mars Project History,” available at http://www.
marsonearth.org/about/history.html (accessed 14 June 2007).