2024: THE HUMAN IS THE LOOP

This idea permeates all of our work. No matter what the mission–Earth or space or the areas in-between–when humans are involved we must learn to manage our humanity, our emotions. Team success depends on the ability to manage individual needs for the good of the group.

We develop behavioral technology that enables and empowers humans to best manage themselves, in harsh and isolated environments, to assure health, safety, and individual & group success.

The final frontier starts with space, the ends of the earth that are beyond easy reach. But that is not where the challenge lies. It lies in the space between our ears. A place where we can go anywhere, feel anything, think anything. That is where we work . . . in that space where the success of any endeavor rests in the realm of the mind.

We push humans to be the best version of themselves when they are in the most extreme situations.

#HumanEverywhere

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Can Data Help Humans Survive in Deep Space? Article on Western Digital’s Data Makes Possible blog, Interview with Alires Almon

Here’s the Role of Data and Technology in Deep Space Travel: Article on Western Digital’s Data Makes Possible blog, Interview with Dr. Stephane Gres, Alires Almon, and Jason Batt

The Next Us–Our Evolution in Deep Space Article in Room Space Journal, Summer 2019 Issue, by Alires Almon and Jason Batt (available in print only)

WHAT WE DO

Deep Space Predictive Research Group develops behavioral technology to help humanity reach its farthest goals. We seek to understand the core of human decision making in an emotional state.

Understanding the role that emotions play in our decision making allows us to create avenues to allow individuals and teams to work and thrive in unusual conditions, to manage that emotion, especially negative emotions that may lead to psychological breaking points. We want to give people the tools they need to navigate through that emotional turmoil so that they do not end up broken. We are working on creating algorithms to predict psychological breaking points.

We sequence one’s Psychological DNA™ to develop the ideal environment for individual and team mission success. We realize that this is super ambitious, but there are many useful steps along the way that we can apply to everyday living.

The power of machine learning, artificial intelligence creates a support system of intelligence augmentation supports human agency and autonomy.

We create psychological safety for those individuals who put their lives on the line for our safety and well-being and those that are going to move humanity forward. We want them to be able to perform and thrive with their humanity intact.

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THE RIGHT STUFF?

Sometimes the wrong stuff is the right stuff

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THE PERFECT CREW

The best team is NOT necessarily made up of the best individuals

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MORE THAN MACHINERY

Astronauts are humans.

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THE UNKNOWN

There is no true analog for deep space.

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FUTURE PROOF

Space will be explored by a diversity of intelligence

The Great Unknown

The Perfect Conditions

“Imagine taking a trip cross-country with your family,” says Mark Shepanek, a psychologist and NASA’s manager of aerospace medicine. “Now imagine that it lasts for months on end. And that you can’t open the windows. You can’t even get out of the car. The bathroom and the meals are in the car with you. Think there might be a problem getting along?”

Russian cosmonaut Valery Ryumin says succinctly, “All the conditions necessary for murder are met if you shut two men in a cabin and leave them together for two months.”

The Hardest Part of Any Mission

Most of the warnings about a Mars trip have come from astronauts who spent months aboard Mir. When the first Mir astronaut, Norm Thagard, returned to Earth in 1995, he told debriefers that psychological challenges were the toughest part of his mission. The last Mir astronaut, Andy Thomas, says that without intense efforts to solve the psychological problems of a group of astronauts confined to a small space for months, “the mission will fail.”

As we prepare for the mission to Mars, many have participated in analog studies. “In 1959, the unknown system was the machine… In 2019, the unknown system is the human mind… The challenge in getting to Mars is not the machine, it is the humans.”

Richard Addante, ‘Crew Member Experiences in Analog Mission Studies’ presented at NASA HRP IWS 25/01/2019

The Longer the Journey, the Greater the Risk

The longer the journey, the greater the risk. Nick Kanas, in Space Psychology and Psychiatry, reports that the Russians have observed that severe asthenic reactions can be developed on longer missions. Missions over four months have the most severe risk. Deep space missions will make today’s cislunar efforts look like weekend jaunts. An interstellar trip would take far longer. The potential for social breakdown is high on a trip of such length.