A new study suggests that crews for long-duration space missions, such as a trip to Mars, should be composed of a mix of personality types rather than a group of similar "alphas."
Key takeaways from the research, which used computer simulations (agent-based modeling) to study team dynamics over a 500-day Mars mission, include:
Diverse Teams Perform Better: Heterogeneous teams with a variety of personality traits consistently demonstrated better outcomes in terms of stress, health, performance, and cohesion compared to homogeneous teams.
The Big Five Traits: The study examined the interactions of the five major personality traits—openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness—within different crew roles (e.g., engineer, medic, pilot).
Resilient Combinations: Specific combinations, such as teams blending high conscientiousness with low neuroticism, or high extraversion with high agreeableness, showed lower stress levels and improved overall outcomes.
Supporting Resilience: The researchers suggest that a broader mix of coping styles and interpersonal dynamics helps teams maintain stability and resilience under the extended isolation and operational demands of deep space travel.
The findings indicate that psychological diversity should be a critical factor in crew selection to ensure teams are intrinsically equipped to handle the unique, high-stress environment of a multi-year Mars mission.