Mars Exploration and NASA's Research
Mankind is formed in such a way that the need for discovery is hard to quench. For a bit, the discovery of Mars is in the pipeline. Since nobody has even gone so far in space, NASA needs to get sufficient details about how its employees are survived in an unknown region. NASA's key goal in spending $1.2 million in research is to ensure the coordination of the astronauts during their flight. Because of the uncertainties it is a difficult undertaking. NASA may have had some concerns from the I/O psychologists as mentioned in this article.
The Benefits of Psychological Assessment
Some of the benefits include;
- The team selected would be the most stable psychologically; hence, would coordinate well
- NASA would be able to know the behaviors of every individual and how they should be approached
- They get the right mix of astronauts
Understanding Individual Characteristics
One of the niggling questions that NASA would like to establish is the character of each individual. Outlining the character of the members will help to identify whether the group can co-exist. Team cohesion is an import element if people are to co-exist and resolve emerging conflicts. During these missions, astronauts can error due to conflicts resulting in severe consequences such as injuries and even death. As such, NASA would wish to comprehend the behavior of each member and their attitudes towards the mission before they can embark on training. Sometimes working in extreme conditions can lead to different challenges (Novotney, 2013). The challenges need people to have strong relations in order to assist one another to overcome them. Furthermore, NASA would like to know if the emotional levels of each individual. In case a disaster occurs, they should be able to overcome the same. NASA aims at developing a resilient, adaptive, and self-sustaining team suitable for long duration universe exploration.
References
Novotney, A. (2013, March). I/O psychology goes to Mars. 44(3), 38. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/03/mars.aspx
