In submarines, crew-member mental breakdown is ranked second only to fire in the hierarchy of potential hazards. Crew-members inside subs can look forward to confinement, lack of personal space, claustrophobic conditions, monotonous routine and a constant awareness of impending doom from warfare. Sadly, astronauts on a 180+ day flight to Mars can expect similar conditions. With the constant possibility of death (from many of the reasons outlined in this article), as well as the quality of living environment, mental health breakdowns or mutiny is a very real threat. Why is this bad news? While testing has been undertaken in order to thoroughly understand how to prevent mental health issues, a mission to Mars really is like stepping into the abyss. The entire return journey can take around 3 years and the fact is we dont have any similar analogues that are even close to that duration of time. Preventative measures like the selection of correct crew-members, counselling and adequate habitation module design all look to combat mental health issues. However all preventative methods could be null and void when confinement and the real threat of death is a daily aspect of astronaut life. In a tin can somewhere in the darkness of space, anarchy could ensue.
