BRENT: Today’s technology has all but eliminated time delays in telecommunication on Earth, but when they do occur they can be frustrating, especially when trying to communicate complex or time sensitive information. The same type of delay could happen when communicating with spacecraft and crew members in deep space on the journey to Mars. For example, communication over radio waves could have round-trip delays of up to 31 minutes at Mars. According to a recent investigation, this could impact team performance and emotional well-being.
Researchers for the Comm Delay Assessment investigation set out to determine whether communication delays, like those astronauts could experience on a long-duration mission to an asteroid or to Mars, will result in impacts to individual and crew performance and well-being. They did this by studying three crew members aboard the International Space Station and their mission control support teams completing 10 tasks during a recent increment: six tasks with no communication delay and four tasks with a 50-second delay. The tasks were based on two dimensions: novelty (how new the task was to each crew member) and criticality (how complex the task was for the crew member).
By analyzing pre- and post-flight interviews, video recordings and questionnaires, investigators were able to determine that high-quality communication (no delay) resulted in high performance and mood. Mood then decreased during tasks that included a delay.
