Kintz Natalie M, Palinkas Lawrence A
School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2016;87(11):940-946. doi: 10.3357/AMHP.4626.2016.
Long-duration space explorations will involve significant communication delays that will likely impact individual and team outcomes. However, the extent of these impacts and the appropriate countermeasures for their mitigation remain largely unknown. This study examined the feasibility and acceptability of utilizing the International Space Station (ISS) as a research platform to assess the impacts of communication delays on individual and team behavior and performance.
For this study, 3 ISS crewmembers and 18 mission support personnel performed 10 tasks identified by subject matter experts as meeting study criteria, 6 tasks without a delay in communication and 4 tasks with a 50-s one-way delay. Assessments of individual and team performance and behavior were obtained after each task. The completion rate of posttask assessments and postmission interviews with astronauts were used to assess feasibility and acceptability.
Posttask assessments were completed in 100% of the instances where a crewmember was assigned to a task and in 83% where mission support personnel were involved. Qualitative analysis of postmission interviews found the study to be important and acceptable to the three astronauts. However, they also reported the study was limited in the number and type of tasks included, limitations in survey questions, and preference for open-ended to scaled items.
Although the ISS is considered a high fidelity analog for long-duration space missions, future studies of communication delays on the ISS must take into considerations the constraints imposed by mission operations and subject preferences and priorities. Kintz KM, Palinkas LA. Communication delays impact behavior and performance aboard the International Space Station. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017; 87(11):940-946.
长时间的太空探索将涉及显著的通信延迟，这可能会影响个人和团队的成果。然而，这些影响的程度以及减轻这些影响的适当对策在很大程度上仍然未知。本研究考察了利用国际空间站（ISS）作为研究平台来评估通信延迟对个人和团队行为及表现影响的可行性和可接受性。
在本研究中，3名国际空间站机组人员和18名任务支持人员执行了10项经主题专家确定符合研究标准的任务，其中6项任务通信无延迟，4项任务有50秒的单向延迟。每项任务完成后，对个人和团队的表现及行为进行评估。通过任务后评估的完成率以及对宇航员的任务后访谈来评估可行性和可接受性。
在分配机组人员执行任务的所有情况下，任务后评估的完成率为100%；在涉及任务支持人员的情况下，完成率为83%。对任务后访谈的定性分析发现，该研究对三名宇航员来说很重要且可以接受。然而，他们也报告称，该研究在任务的数量和类型、调查问卷问题方面存在局限性，并且他们更倾向于开放式问题而非量表式问题。
尽管国际空间站被认为是长期太空任务的高保真模拟环境，但未来关于国际空间站通信延迟的研究必须考虑任务操作所带来的限制以及受试者的偏好和优先事项。金茨·K·M，帕林卡斯·L·A。通信延迟对国际空间站上的行为和表现有影响。《航空航天医学与人类表现》。2017年；87(11):940 - 946。
