Antarctic experiment reveals hidden risks of future missions to Mars

Scientists studied a team of 12 people who spent ten months at the Concordia Antarctic station. It is one of the most remote places on Earth: temperatures can drop to -80 °C in winter, and the conditions are often used as a model for future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.

The result was not obvious: being around other team members all the time created conflict, distrust and a sense of decreased efficiency.

Details

Participants completed questionnaires four times during the ten-month winterisation. They were asked about loneliness, trust, conflict, team cohesion, and how well they thought the team was doing.

But the study didn't stop with surveys. Participants also wore sensors that recorded who was around whom and for how long. This allowed scientists to see not only what people said about their relationships, but also how their day-to-day interactions actually changed.

One of the main findings: more contact doesn't always mean more support. In ordinary life, meeting a colleague or having a conversation can help. But in isolation, where there's little opportunity to be alone, the constant presence of other people can be an added stressor.

The researchers also noticed that over time, the team began to divide into smaller groups. People were more likely to reach out to those with whom they shared a common language or nationality. This can help to feel a sense of support, but it also increases the risk that the larger team starts to break up into separate "islands."

Why it matters

For space missions, this is a serious message. On Mars or during a long mission, the crew won't be able to just go home, take a holiday or change their environment. People will be living in the same confined space for months or years.

This means that when preparing such missions, you need to think about more than just technology, oxygen, food and radiation. You need to design the social environment in advance: how much personal space people will have, how conflicts will be resolved, how to monitor tension within the team and when psychological support is needed.

Background

Concordia is often referred to as the Earth analogue of a space station or a future base on another planet. It is deep in Antarctica, isolated for months, and the crew lives in extreme cold, darkness and limited space. The European Space Agency has for years used winterisation data on Concordia for research related to future missions to the moon and Mars.

But such findings aren't just important for space. Similar problems can occur on submarines, offshore platforms, polar stations, and other places where a small group of people live and work for long periods of time without a normal opportunity to get out.

The main limitation of the study is the small sample. It involved 12 people, and the data show a correlation rather than a direct cause. We can't say that it was frequent intimacy that necessarily caused the conflicts. It may be that the lonely people themselves sought contact more often, but that contact did not bring them relief.

Source

Jan B. Schmutz et al., "Social interactions in isolated, confined, and extreme environments: A study of Antarctic winter teams using wearable sensors", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2026.