Leading the Way Through

Uncharted Territory

Martha Lenio, HI-SEAS Mission III Commander

26 September 2017

Introduction

• Mission objectives

• What is it like to live on Mars?

• Running Out of Gas on Mars

• The Hardest Parts

• The Best Parts

• What we’ve learned so far

• What it takes to be a leader

Mission Objectives “Long story short, we want to know how you pick a team, and then

support a team, for these long-duration space missions so they won’t kill

each other” – Dr. Kim Binsted, Principle Investigator for the HI-SEAS project at

the University of Hawaii

• The crew selection process involved a written application, research proposal,

on-line aptitude and personality testing, and a Skype interview

• Once the finalists had been selected, we were sent on a 6-day backpacking

trip with the National Outdoor Leadership School in the Rocky Mountains in

Wyoming

Mission Objectives HI-SEAS Crew III

Mission Objectives

• Stress models

• Bechtel – 3rd Quarter Phenomena

• Rohrer – Heightened Alertness – Depression - Volatility

Mission Objectives NASA worked with six different universities that collected data on us over the

course of the mission:

• SIFT – journals study

• MSU – 3 or 4 surveys per day, plus a team challenge on Wednesdays

• TPT – team challenge on Tuesdays and Thursdays

• VSS – a virtual, interactive psychologist program

• Cognition – Friday night memory and pattern recognition puzzles

• Cornell Food Study – Surveys during the week, record recipes

All together – over 40 surveys per week!

1 2 3 4 5

What is it like to live on Mars?

• 38% of Earth’s gravity

• No magnetic field

• Very little atmosphere, and mostly CO2

• Temperatures between -143°C and 35°C

• Very little water

• Volcanic rock

Earth! Mars!

What’s it like to live on Mars?

• 20 min to get messages between Earth and Mars

• Solar power

• Restricted water

• Space suits

• Shelf-stable food

• Indoor workouts

What’s does failure mean in Engineering?

Engineering is inherently dangerous – not to the engineer,

but to those around them.

The Iron Ring worn on the pinky-finger of an engineer’s

working hand serves to remind us of the importance and

gravity of the work we do.

Running Out of Gas on Mars*?

The Situation

• 1 week of poor weather – not enough sun to charge the batteries and run the Hab systems

• Low on gasoline Low on hydrogen

Mitigation Measures

• No cooking Turned down heat Reduced experiments

• Reduced lighting Low-energy entertainment and workouts

Critical failure: Generator malfunction

Critical Systems

• Toilets Lab freezer Communications Blastoff McRocketboots

The Hardest Parts

Conflict resolution

The Hardest Parts

Lack of privacy

The Hardest Parts

No internet

The Hardest Parts

Not going outside

The Best Parts

The group workouts

The Best Parts

The food!

The Best Parts

The people:

The Best Parts

The geology tasks, and pretending we’re astronauts

The Best Parts Living on renewable energy

What we’ve learned so far

• Picking a crew: it takes all types

• The importance of work-life balance

• Compromise, tolerance, and a sense of humour

• NASA learned a lot about what makes up a successful

and productive crew

• I learned a lot about how far off we are from being truly

sustainable still

What it takes to be a leader?

• Self-care • Camping, hiking, finance, health

• Team care • Being a member of a club or a team, camping, hiking

• Teaching others

• Cleaning up a mess

• Trying to make something better

• Followership • Learning from others

• Accepting constructive criticism

• Leadership • Stepping up when people need help

• Taking on the jobs no one else wants

Thank You!

Questions?