GIVEN THE EXTENDED DURATION OF FUTURE MISSIONS AND THE ISOLATED, EXTREME AND CONFINED ENVIRONMENTS, THERE I…

Public award description

GIVEN THE EXTENDED DURATION OF FUTURE MISSIONS AND THE ISOLATED, EXTREME AND CONFINED ENVIRONMENTS, THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT BEHAVIORAL CONDITIONS AND MENTAL DISORDERS (DSM-IV-TR) WILL DEVELOP. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DELIVER AN INDIVIDUALIZED BEHAVIORAL HEALTH MONITORING TOOL THAT UNOBTRUSIVELY INTEGRATES ALL AVAILABLE BEHAVIORAL MEASURES COLLECTED DURING A MISSION TO PROVIDE A DASHBOARD OF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH INDICATORS. THESE INDICATORS WILL BE PLACED WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF QUANTITATIVELY-TRACKED MISSION STRESSORS TO PROVIDE MEANINGFUL FEEDBACK ALLOWING BEHAVIORAL ISSUES TO BE DETECTED AND MITIGATED AT AN EARLY STAGE. THE RESULT OF THIS PROJECT WILL BE A SYSTEM PROTOTYPE THAT CAN BE DEPLOYED IN SPACE ANALOG ENVIRONMENTS (E.G., MARS 520 STUDY, ANTARCTICA) FOR VALIDATION TESTING AND ULTIMATELY DEPLOYED IN LONG-DURATION SPACE EXPLORATION MISSIONS. THE CRITICAL NEED FOR AN INDIVIDUALIZED BEHAVIORAL HEALTH MONITORING TOOL HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS A PRIORITY OUTLINED IN THE BHP INTEGRATED RESEARCH PLAN (JULY 2009) GAP BMED3. PHASE II WILL ACHIEVE: (1) AN INDIVIDUALIZED BEHAVIORAL HEALTH MONITOR SOFTWARE INTERFACE; (2) A DATA INTEGRATION SYSTEM; (3) A TREND AND CHANGE DETECTION ALGORITHM; AND (4) A COUNTERMEASURE SELECTION AID. THE TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL AT THE END OF PHASE II WILL BE TRL 6.