Dr. Stabenau recently participated as an analog astronaut on a mission to “Mars.” As part of a collaborative research project between the bioastronautics team at CU Boulder and the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah, she and five other professionals were locked in a self-contained Martian habitat with limited resources for five days. Dr. Stabenau (callsign: Neo) served as the Crew Medic, with mission tasks including ultrasound teaching and tele-guided scans, acting as actual physician for real medical events, virtual reality task training, and the creation of a mission vlog, which is available upon request. There were also planned extravehicular activities (or EVAs) into the Martian (Utah) desert with limited life support systems, lack of real-time communication with Mission Control to simulate actual communication delays of up to 40 minutes, and mission specific objectives such as locating resources or performing reconnaissance.

Overall, this research will contribute to a better understanding of team dynamics, information density, and associated biometrics in isolated, confined, and extreme environments and will be used to improve training, coordination, and communication on exploration class missions to the Moon and Mars.