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Dartmouth physician and former astronaut\u00a0Jay Buckey<\/a>\u00a0is leading a team of international investigators testing new virtual reality technology in the Arctic this winter. Their goal is to see whether simulated natural beauty can relieve the psychological challenges of living in the isolated confines of deep space travel.<\/p>\n The test site is the\u00a0Canadian Forces Station Alert<\/a>\u00a0(CFS Alert),\u00a0the most northerly, permanently inhabited location in the world, only 817 kilometers from the geographic North Pole. The project got underway last week. Its primary goal\u00a0is to find \u201ceffective ways to maintain and even improve astronauts\u2019 psychological health on long-duration space flights\u201d to Mars and elsewhere, says\u00a0Buckey, the project\u2019s principal investigator and a professor at Dartmouth\u2019s\u00a0Geisel School of Medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n The technology will bring nature\u2019s restorative sights and sounds to the inhabitants of CFS Alert, immersing them in virtual reality scenes from New Hampshire\u2019s beautiful mountains, produced by Dartmouth\u2019s\u00a0Digital Arts Leadership and Innovation lab<\/a>\u00a0(DALI), and picturesque landscapes from Australia and Ireland. The CFS Alert crew will also experience virtual scenes and sounds called \u201cVirtual Wembury<\/a>,\u201d produced by Professor\u00a0Robert Stone<\/a>\u00a0at the University of Birmingham, that allows users to navigate Wembury, a seaside village in the United Kingdom.\u00a0Virtual Wembury is currently part of a research program in the U.K. sponsored by the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, evaluating the impact of virtual scenes of nature on the recovery patterns of patients within the Intensive Care Unit of Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.\u00a0At the project\u2019s conclusion, the CFS Alert crewmembers will be asked to rate the virtual scenes for their realism and immersion, which scenes they preferred and why, and how the scenes affected their mood and stress.<\/p>\n The Dartmouth-led project includes\u00a0Defence Research and Development Canada<\/a>\u00a0(DRDC),\u00a0an agency of Canada\u2019s Department of National Defence,\u00a0and is supported by\u00a0NASA\u2019s\u00a0National Space Biomedical Research Institute<\/a>\u00a0(NSBRI).\u00a0The research is designed to enhance psychological health in space, but it is useful in other settings such as intensive care units.<\/p>\n Since 2001<\/a>, in a separate project, Dartmouth, Harvard and other institutions have been developing the \u201cVirtual Space Station<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0an interactive suite of software programs designed\u00a0to maintain astronauts\u2019\u00a0psychological health and to resolve interpersonal conflicts on long-duration missions,\u00a0with support from\u00a0NSBRI.\u00a0The mental challenges of long-duration space flights have been studied for years, but\u00a0astronauts currently have audio and video access to ground support only when communication links are available. On longer missions like one to Mars, transmission delays will make real-time therapy problematic. Computer-based treatment offers an autonomous way to address these important problems. The current Virtual Space Station\u00a0system includes self-guided multimedia programs on depression, conflict and stress management.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Available to comment are:<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\nFOR THE MEDIA:<\/h4>\n
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