**Acknowledgements**

I would like to thank the pioneer of Czech space research, military pilot, and sociologist Col. PhDr. Jaroslav Sýkora, as well as psychologist Col. PhDr. Kateřina Bernardová, founder of the Department of Psychosocial Services in the Czech Army, with whom I had the honor to collaborate for over 25 years. Col. PhDr Kateřina Bernardová was using sociomapping for interventions in combat units for over 20 years and now is leading Sirius project. I would like to thank PhDr. Eva Rozehnalová, PhD, for the collaboration on psychometric research of sociomapping, and RNDr. Cyril Höschl, PhD, for translating the idea of sociomapping into functioning algorithms and programs.

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**Author details**

Radvan Bahbouh

Czech Republic

Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague,

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

\*Address all correspondence to: radvan.bahbouh@ff.cuni.cz

provided the original work is properly cited.

*Psychosocial Aspects of a Flight to Mars DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91021* *Psychosocial Aspects of a Flight to Mars DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91021*

*Mars Exploration - A Step Forward*

for the last 20 years [69].

**Acknowledgements**

functioning algorithms and programs.

suitable, stress-resistant individuals during the preflight phase, it is recommendable for the crew members to meet well in advance and for them to spend some time together in isolation before the actual flight. During this phase, it would be appropriate for the crew to be briefed with the issue at hand and with the usual development of the group dynamic, the methods that will help them capture it, and with the subsequent procedures of formulating a contract about what can be improved based on this data. We also recommend paying attention to a sensitization on cultural, linguistic, and gender aspects during the training and briefing prior to the actual flight. We also suggest for the team to familiarize itself with the way of conducting the debriefing, which improves its communication and performance. This is based not only on the meta-analysis, which showed a significant increase of the performance of teams that conduct debriefings [70], but also from the derived recommendations aimed specifically at space flights [71]. In the view of the communication delay between Earth and Mars, it is necessary to support the teams by leading them to conduct the debriefing based on an automated, structured protocol. For example, this could be sociomapping followed by a debate about how the communication is going and how it might be continuously improved. Throughout the mission, we recommend a regular monitoring of the communication with a possible discussion on improvement options. From time to time, the team "on Earth" should be included in such a discussion, so that this intervention can help strengthen the mutual ties and reduce the risks of possible displacement. Besides a debriefing, providing support or an intervention may also be considered in more difficult times. We also unequivocally suggest that the contact with close friends and relatives be available, which will decrease the sense of isolation. Monitoring communication using the sociomapping method will continue to be a part of the experiment in the Sirius project. After the Sirius 2017 [72] and Sirius 2019 experiments, the utilization of sociomapping is planned in the Sirius 2020 and 2021 experiments, as well. The team led by Kateřina Bernardová is now preparing not only a methodology of the measurement itself but also a methodology of team dynamic training and subsequent interventions similarly to the way the Czech Army has been using the system

I would like to thank the pioneer of Czech space research, military pilot, and sociologist Col. PhDr. Jaroslav Sýkora, as well as psychologist Col. PhDr. Kateřina Bernardová, founder of the Department of Psychosocial Services in the Czech Army, with whom I had the honor to collaborate for over 25 years. Col. PhDr Kateřina Bernardová was using sociomapping for interventions in combat units for over 20 years and now is leading Sirius project. I would like to thank PhDr. Eva Rozehnalová, PhD, for the collaboration on psychometric research of sociomapping, and RNDr. Cyril Höschl, PhD, for translating the idea of sociomapping into

**136**
