WHEN the Nella Dan, then Australia鈥檚 Antarctic research vessel sailed from Hobart to the Antarctic a few years ago, members of the expedition developed a curious habit. They started to lisp. The practice began as a joke but by the end of the 10-month trip, everyone in the research team was speaking with a lisp. 鈥淭his type of behaviour modification 鈥� where what one does is copied, sometimes unwittingly, by others 鈥� occurs when small groups of people are isolated in remote areas for long periods,鈥� says Des Lugg, head of medical research for the Australian Antarctic Division in Hobart.
Because space travellers can expect similar changes to their behaviour, Antarctica is being used increasingly by NASA鈥檚 Life and Biomedical Sciences Applications Division to study what happens both physically and psychologically to Australia鈥檚 Antarctic personnel. Australia was the obvious choice of a partner because it lays claim to 42 per cent of the Antarctic and has an impressive track record in Antarctic research. Under an agreement signed in 1993, NASA has access to data and samples collected by the AAD and, in return, the AAD can use NASA facilities and data analysis for its own research.
NASA has plans to send astronauts to an orbiting space station for several months at a time, a similar duration to those who stay over the winter in Antarctica. The winters are tough 鈥� the temperature can reach 鈭�30掳C and it can be dark for up to 20 hours a day, conditions not dissimilar to living on a space station.
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Australia鈥檚 Antarctic bases are also the ideal size for NASA to investigate how people are affected by isolation and hostile conditions. McMurdo, the American base, houses up to 100 during the winter, but this is too many people to use as a test bed for space travel. Each of Australia鈥檚 bases 鈥� Casey, Davis and Mawson 鈥� are home to no more than 20, and so mimic the space experience much more closely.
NASA is keen to learn whether astronauts on a space station can expect to be exposed to diseases when they are visited by new crew members. According to the 47 years of Australia鈥檚 medical records of visitors to the Antarctic, a spate of illnesses usually occurs after the arrival of a supply ship.
There is also a puzzle surrounding just how vulnerable the isolated crew is. The immune system of the 鈥渙verwinterers鈥� is depressed, often within a few weeks of beginning their stay. Lugg, who has 30 years鈥� experience dealing with Antarctic medical issues, suspects that this is a result of the psychological stress caused by isolation, which throws certain hormones that affect the immune system out of balance. Skin tests taken back in 1984 showed that the overwinterers at Mawson had depressed immune systems throughout their stay, but they were no sicker than people on mainland Australia.
Saliva tests taken at three-monthly intervals show that overwinterers continue to produce and shed viruses. How people with depressed immune systems don鈥檛 become excessively sick, unless they are exposed to new bugs by visitors, remains a mystery. Both NASA and the Australians are intrigued. Lugg is sending NASA laboratories nasal, mouth, saliva and blood samples.
If the Australian Antarctic experience is any guide, NASA, according to Lugg, will have to prepare its astronauts to cope with unusual behaviour. For example, one Australian expedition member insisted on riding a bicycle over the sea ice. 鈥淚t is important that people are told before they leave that this behaviour is not odd, but to be expected,鈥� says Lugg.
NASA is also interested in studying what happens to people during the summer months in Antarctica. For the past two summers, it has supplied a laptop computer to a team of six who traversed Lambert Glacier, the world鈥檚 largest glacier. The trip lasted 100 days and each night team members wrote a personal diary on the computer recording such things as how they felt emotionally and what problems they were having. Their diaries are being analysed by JoAnna Wood, a psychologist at the Johnson Space Center in Texas. Wood hopes to use the data to improve the psychological tests used to screen space crews.
Australian experience also suggests that doctors should be part of the crew on long space journeys, such as a trip to Mars 鈥� often to handle unforseen problems. Members of expeditions to Antarctica, for example, have suffered from a range of conditions, such as bleeding in the bowels and stomach, despite rigorous health checks before departure. One Australian doctor, guided by specialists at home, even had to perform brain surgery in the Antarctic for an aneurysm using carpentry tools as surgical instruments.
The patient survived. 鈥淚 have no idea,鈥� says Lugg, 鈥渉ow you would perform surgery in the weightlessness of space. Fluid can flow in any direction. NASA is on their own with that one.鈥�