NASA Selects Two Proposals to Support Health and Performance in Astronauts on Missions to the Moon and Mars
NASA has awarded approximately $2 million for two new research proposals to help answer questions about astronaut health and performance during future long-duration missions beyond low-Earth orbit. The proposals will investigate biological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations to spaceflight using multiple International Space Station flights and Earth-based studies to contribute to NASA’s preparations for crewed missions to the Moon and eventually Mars as part of the Artemis Program.
NASA is planning International Space Station expeditions of varying lengths. In 2015 and 2016, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko spent nearly a year in space to help scientists understand how the human body responds to longer expeditions away from Earth. In February, Astronaut Christina Koch will return to Earth after spending more than 300 days in space. NASA expects to conduct future yearlong missions. The selected research projects will use future missions of varying lengths to help NASA establish temporal profiles of human physiological, behavioral, and psychological variables of importance for the maintenance of human health and performance during future long-duration deep space missions.
The selected proposals will receive a total of approximately $2 million during a three- to six-year period. The projects, from two institutions in two different states, were selected from 23 proposals received in response to the 2018 Human Exploration Research Opportunities Appendix D, which solicited for projects investigating cardiovascular adaptations to long-duration spaceflight and for projects studying individual and team problem-solving skills training for exploration missions.
The complete announcement of the selected proposals, principal investigators, and organizations can be found at:
