UX, but on Mars: Exploring User Experience in Extreme Environments with Insights from a Mars Analog Mission
Isolated, Confined, and Extreme (ICE) environments, such as those encountered in space missions, deep-sea explorations, and polar expeditions, pose unique physical and psychological challenges that influence user interaction with computer systems and have been significantly less explored compared to conventional and familiar environments. In this paper, we report empirical results from two experiments involving two crews of six analog astronauts each and two interactive systems with graphical and haptic user interfaces, conducted in both a conventional Earth environment and a simulated extraplanetary setting at the Mars Desert Research Station. We examine how extreme conditions impact user experience and argue that future designs should incorporate the specific requirements of ICE environments through adaptation, automation, and assistance-resistance compensation mechanisms. We provide implications for interaction design in extreme environments, which we exemplify for emerging areas in HCI, such as SpaceCHI.