ANSIBLE: Social Connectedness through a Virtual World in an Isolated Mars Simulation Mission

Long duration Mars exploration missions will face unprecedented sensory and social monotony that will impact various aspects of space crew performance as well as behavioral health. We describe ANSIBLE - A Network of Social Interactions for Bilateral Life Enhancement. ANSIBLE is a virtual world ecosystem that implements evidence based strategies to promote social connectedness and psychological well-being, while being extendable and able to accommodate technical and environmental limitations of long duration flight. ANSIBLE was deployed in a twelve month isolation study to evaluate its capacity to maintain the social connection between participants in an isolated Mars simulation analog environment and their friends and family (FF) living outside the habitat. The Mars simulation exercise takes place at the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) facilities in Waimea, HI, where subjects undergo adjustments in physiology and lifestyle that are analogous to some of the challenges in a confined environment, with Mars exploration conditions (e.g. with communication latencies and blackouts, in close quarters, under restricted water and energy use). We present preliminary results suggesting that ANSIBLE can increase feelings of closeness as well as satisfaction with FF relationships over traditional methods, as well as promoting continued interactions of FF with crew members, closeness to humanity, decreased stress, and the perception that time is moving fast.