Day: February 6, 2026

Mission Plan

MDRS Crew 319
Historic Global Mission, Expedition 1
World’s Biggest Analog – Advanced Analog Astronaut Crew
Author: Rym Chaid – Commander
Review: Full Crew
October 12-25, 2025

1. Mission Overview

The World’s Biggest Analog (WBA) is the largest coordinated analog mission in history, linking 17 analog habitats across five continents to simulate Moon and Mars settlements in a unified, synchronous campaign.

Its core objective is to explore how humans can “live and work together cooperatively in the harsh environment of Space,” investigating not only technical and scientific challenges but also the sociopsychological, anthropological, and human-factor aspects of off-Earth habitation.

As MDRS Crew 319, we will serve as one of the four advanced habitats at the core of WBA. We will operate under Mars-analog conditions (or Moon/Mars mixed, per habitat assignment) and collaborate with the global network of analogs.

Advanced Core Habitats – Leading the WBA Global Mission:

Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) – The United States of America
Lunares – Poland
Habitat Marte – Brazil
Hydronaut – Czech Republic

This mission will run for 2 weeks (October 12–25, 2025) across participating habitats.

2. Crew Composition & Roles

Our crew has five mandatory roles and two supplemental roles to explore all facets of life on Mars during our mission and complete our experiments and outreach plans successfully and safely.

First, we have the five key roles:

Commander: Rym Y. Chaid

The Commander is responsible for the overall safety, organization and management of the mission and is the person held accountable for all things related to the mission, although they still need to respect the overall authority of MDRS staff and the HSO in health and safety matters. Commanders will have prior successful analog experience. Commanders usually have demonstrated leadership and experience in remote or challenging field areas. Their duty is to keep an overview on the mission goals, progress of the crew experiments, crew well-being, and social climate, mediate and settle any disputes inside the crew, and take a lead and responsibility for the crew in difficult situations (e.g. emergency simulations).

Health and Safety Officer (HSO): Elias Mulky and Shriya Musuku

The role of the HSO is dependent on the applicant’s skill level. First responder training is preferred and EMT’s, nurses and doctors are highly desired, unless no one in the crew has a medical background. This position is also responsible for the operational safety of the crew and the campus. The Medical Officer can override decisions made by the Commander if medical reasons suggest a veto. Their duty is to: oversee the correctness and completeness of taking the daily medical measurements,observe the crew physical and mental health, and take care of injuries and sick crew members.

Crew Engineer: Ricardo Gonzales

The Crew Engineer is responsible for the maintenance and monitoring of the station, its buildings and systems. The person in this position has to think proactively and be able to think like a Martian in terms of active response to the physical environment at MDRS. In order for daily activities to proceed as scheduled, the crew engineer needs to routinely monitor the equipment being used by the crew and make sure it is ready for whatever is planned. In addition, when systems fail, the crew engineer needs to diagnose the problem and contact Mission Support with a plan for solving the problem.

Crew Scientist: Shriya Musuku

The role of a scientist on the crew is to conduct research and maintain the ScienceDome and its equipment. They generally plan the crew’s EVAs based on their research goals. They must have a pre-approval of their home institution for any studies done at MDRS. This is particularly important if the scientist is studying human factors. All human factors research is required to be approved by the home institution’s IRB, even if it doesn’t require an IRB. In that case, simple proof that it was reviewed and an IRB was not deemed necessary is all that is needed for the research. For WBA, we will need to discuss this role further with the MDRS Organizers to discuss feasibility and need.

Crew Journalist: Mackenzie Calle

The Crew Journalist is responsible for the daily reports and photos sent from MDRS. This included a daily Journalist Report that is a record of your crew’s daily life, but also they should be the organizer for the crew’s media efforts.
Then we have the two supplemental roles to further explore the life on Mars through our connection to the greenery of Earth and the vastness of space:

Crew Astronomer: Ricardo Gonzales & Rym Chaid

The crew astronomers must have both experience using a telescope and a research project that has been approved by the MDRS Astronomy Team. They will work with the director of observatories prior to their arrival at MDRS and must take an online test in order to operate the observatories.

GreenHab Officer: Mackenzie Calle

This person is responsible for keeping the crops alive and thriving in the GreenHab, as well as the overall maintenance and monitoring of the GreenHab’s environmental controls. GreenHab Officers can have experience in biology and/or gardening.

Crew Educator: Rym Chaid & Shriya Musuku

The crew educators are responsible for all educational and outreach initiatives and coordinations relating to the mission. This includes coordination with classrooms around the World to teach hundreds of students about space exploration and life on Mars as part of the ACE education international program.

3. Mission Objectives
3.1 WBA’s Core Experiments

WBA has defined ten flagship experiments to be run across all participating habitats, to facilitate comparative analysis. Our crew has analyzed and selected a total of 7 experiments to conduct during our rotation at the Mars Desert Research Station. Below is a summary and how we plan to implement or augment them:

Emotion Response Analysis (ERA) – Astronaut Emotional Analysis
Principal Investigators: Dr. Patrick Stacey & Dr. Suzanne Elayan
The experiment objective is to identify key emotional dynamics in the astronaut experience and aims to understand motivational and hazardous factors in the job using interviews to predict astronaut emotional responses
Use regular video diaries and before and after interviews to model emotional response of the crews

SIMOC – Live Mesh Network Sensory Array – Measures Habitat Life Support Data
Principal Investigator: Kai Staats
The experiment objective is to identify real time sensor data in the habs to create a system that functions as an Environmental Control and Life Support System that observes air quality in real time and allows for future data analysis
The crew will monitor functionality of this installed sensor system to ensure continued experiment operation throughout the duration of the mission

Job / Home / Team Crafting (MARSCRAFT project)
Principal Investigator: Vera Hanger mann and Christianne Heinecke
The experiment objective is to explore how crew members self-adjust tasks (“job crafting”), adjust personal spaces (“home crafting”), and refine collaboration dynamics (“team crafting”) to maintain well-being and performance.
The crew will be taking two surveys that journal their crafting behaviors and well being right after work and right before bed

INDEX (INtuition and DEliberation in eXtreme environments)
Principal Investigators: Pierpaolo Zivi and Fabio Ferlazzo
The objective of the experiment is to examine individual decision making factors throughout the World’s Biggest Analog mission
The crew will complete surveys measuring stress, sleep, mood and team climate to facilitate data analysis

SPACESEED
Principal Investigators: Victor Buchli and Tarun Bandemegala
The objective of the study is to understand the human side of Space Controlled Environment Agriculture and study the socio cultural factors of SpaceCEA
The crew will complete the assembly of the space seed and report on plant growth as we monitor things

Salutogenesis in Space Analog Environments
Principal Investigators: Dr. Laura Thomas & Dr. Mike Rennie
The experiment objective is to study the post experience growth and subjective factors that impact the time spent in analog settings
The crew will conduct daily journaling and a post analog interview to trace these factors throughout the mission and provide reflection on salutogenesis after the mission

ARBMH – Relationship between Mental Health, Sexual Functioning, and Team Dynamics
Principal Investigators: Simon Dube and Justin Garcia
The objective of the experiment is to study the evolution of psychological and sexual well being in isolated, confined, and extreme environments.
The crew will answer a daily questionnaire about their well being to provide data for this experiment

Mars-to-Earth Outreach & Education
All habitats engage in public communication: data-sharing, livestreams, educational modules, virtual tours.
Our MDRS crew will produce multimedia content, host virtual classrooms, publish in National Geographic, run photography exhibitions.

We will map our internal experiments to these WBA standards to maximize cross-habitat comparability, while also contributing unique experiments (as below).

3.2 Crew-Specific Experiments

Engineering / Technical Experiments:
Hab Maintenance & Reliability
Monitor and log all maintenance, failures, and mean time between failures (MTBF).
Redundancy strategies and emergency repair protocols.

VR & Simulation for Space Tasks
Implement virtual-reality simulations

EVA Emergency Experiment:
Communication Protocol Testing
Create and test rigid but adaptive comms protocols under degraded signal, latency, or partial blackout conditions.
Capture metrics: packet loss, misinterpretation, delays, crew stress under degraded comms.

Emergency Response Protocol Testing & Framework Definition
Stage “EVA emergencies” (ex: suit breach, comms cut, medical splint) and test response workflows.
Evaluate decision-making time, crew coordination, resilience measures, and communications.

Assessment Criteria, Risk Mitigation
Define quantitative and qualitative criteria for success/failure in emergencies.
Pre-develop mitigation strategies (ex: abort thresholds, redundancy checks, fallback positions).

Adaptive Response in Wilderness (Mars-like Terrain)
Simulate emergency scenarios in rugged terrain outside the habitat (within EVA constraints). Simulation shall be verbal and no real hazard shall be implemented.
Observe how crew improvises given simulated constraints (power, comms, supply limits).

Media / Outreach Experiments:
National Geographic Collaboration
Co-author an article (print + digital) linking our Mars-analog experiences with a moon-analog mission elsewhere in the WBA network.

Public Talks / Virtual Classroom Engagement
Conduct scheduled recorded sessions with classrooms globally, walking through mission day, experiment highlights, crew Q&A.

Magazine Journaling, Photography, Social Media
Daily journaling (crew diaries), photo essays, art pieces, social media posts framed as “Life on Mars” content.

Short Documentary Film
Produce a short film capturing mission flow, personal stories, scientific moments, challenges overcome.

“Life on Mars” Photography Exhibition
Curate a small exhibit of photos narrating crew life, experiments, landscapes, micro-moments, to be shared digitally and post-mission in galleries.

4. EVA Strategy

EVA Personnel:
EVA Lead: Commander leads Crew during EVA operations and is responsible for Crew safety.
HABCOM: One crew member must remain in the Main Campus at all times during EVAs. Habcom is responsible for communications between MSC and EVA Crew. Habcom monitors EVA Crew activities via Dashboard. Crew will rotate this position to ensure everyone goes on at least one EVA.
EVA Crew: EVA crew shall only consist of 3 members maximum, as one crewmember must remain in the Main Campus.

EVA Planning Principles:
EVA windows will be scheduled with buffer margins for safety, weather, suit prep, and delays.
Each EVA will have clear objectives (science, sampling, traverse, infrastructure) and contingencies.
A buddy system will always be enforced; no solo EVA under any circumstance. One night EVA will be performed on Sol 0, prior to Mission Ingress following special permission and crew training.
Before EVA: checklists (suit integrity, Air flow, comms, tool inventory, emergency supplies, MSC awareness).
During EVA: strict timeline adherence, regular check-ins MSC, strict perimeter adherence
After EVA: immediate debrief, log any anomalies, sample processing, suit maintenance, checking with MSC.

EVA Allocation Framework:
MDRS allows for two EVA windows per day (morning + afternoon), with flexibility depending on crew fatigue and environmental conditions (weather forecasts)
Assign roles rotating among crew (e.g. leader, navigator, instrument handler, media) to build redundancy and cross-training.
Only two EVAs should test Crew’s emergency protocols (simulated health hazard).
Reserve contingency EVA time for unexpected troubleshooting or extra sampling.

Emergency EVA Scenario Use:
Insert forced delays, simulated system failures (e.g. comms dropout), or tool breakage to test robustness of protocols and visual communications strategies. Comms will remain nominal, but crew will simulate loss of comms, for a controlled and predetermined amount of time.
Use terrain features (rocks, slopes) to simulate challenges in EVA navigation, emergency return path planning.
Two EVAs should test Crew’s emergency protocols by simulated health hazards. Trainers shall be Commander and HSO, while trainees shall be Crew Engineer and GreenHab Officer.

5. Crew Cohesion, Morale & Well-Being
Crew mental health, trust, and cohesion are central to our mission success. Key strategies:

Crew Norms & Values
Pre-mission: conflict resolution norms, roles, communication practices, personal boundaries.

Daily Emotional Check-ins
Short check-ins/check-outs “highs and lows” rounds led by Commander each morning and evening.
Encourage vulnerability, psychological safety, and listening.
Commander and HSO are both responsible for monitoring the safety and well-being of the crew and are trained in human factors and emotional support.
All crewmembers are encouraged to reach out and communicate with whoever they are comfortable with in the crew, if needed.

Scheduled Social Time & Rituals
Board games, storytelling, themed nights (music, art), shared stargazing or guided astronomy sessions.
Small traditions (mission halfway celebration, mission closure celebration quote-of-the-day) help us build our identity.

Rotation / Cross-Role Engagement
Occasionally rotate duties to prevent monotony and foster empathy (e.g., engineers help with greenhab, journalist helps data entry).
Encourage side learning: short peer-led “micro-teach” sessions (biology, art) during downtime.

Physical Fitness & Recovery
1 hour daily exercise (stretching, yoga, cycling, resistance bands) to maintain physical health, reduce stress.
Encourage naps or rest periods when fatigue accumulates.

Private Reflection Time
All crew members have quiet time daily to journal, decompress, or meditate. Everyone should respect those boundaries.

Conflict Management Protocol
Early “cool-down” before escalation, structured mediation session if needed.
Use crew norms as reference for dispute resolution.

6. Risk Management & Safety Protocols

Primary Risk Categories
EVA mishaps (suit breach, tool failure, disorientation, heat stroke, hypothermia)
Habitat system failures (power, life support, communications)
Health and medical emergencies
Psychological stress, interpersonal conflict, fatigue
Media/communications breakdowns with external support
Environmental hazards (storms, terrain, dust, fire)

Mitigation Strategies

Redundancy & Backup Systems
Monitor critical systems (power, comms, telemetry).
Spare parts, tools, repair kits easily accessible.

Pre-mission Training & Drills
Emergency drills (fire, depressurization, medical) pre-mission and early mission days.
Cross-training: every crew member cross-training on backup systems, basic first aid, EVA rescue, COMS protocol.

Checklists & Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Mandatory checklists for EVA, maintenance, communications, emergency.
All procedure updates must be documented and signed.

Abort Criteria & Decision Gates
Define clear thresholds to abort EVA, halt experiment, or retreat to safe mode.
Utilize “go/no-go” decision points, favor safety margins.

Health Monitoring & Medical Protocols
Medical kit ready, telemedicine support, protocols for remote assistance.
In case of worsening symptoms: fallback “safe mode” and potential early egress.

Psychological Safeguards
Scheduled breaks, counseling check-ins, possibility to pause high-load tasks.
Communicate stress or private feedback to Commander or HSO – per individual preference.
Commander/HSO and involved crewmember might decide to escalate this matter to MSC and/or external professional support.

Communications Backup & Latency Simulation
Use redundant comms channels, monitor delays and outages to test robustness.
Backup archive of critical data.

Environmental Monitoring & Safeguards
Continual habitat sensors (humidity, temp).
Fire hazard equipment.
Automated alerts, threshold alarms, emergency vent or scrubber activation.

Post-Incident Review & Learning
Immediate debrief after any anomaly, near-miss, or emergency test.
Log lessons learned, update procedures and file Incident Report.
Comms check with MSC.

7. Expected Outcomes & Deliverables

By the end of the mission, we aim to deliver:

Comparative data sets aligned with WBA’s core experiments (psychological, communication, productivity, space agriculture)
Internal reports on our crew’s engineering, EVA, and emergency protocol experiments
Daily SOL Summaries and Journaling reports
A collaborative National Geographic article (digital + print) intersecting our Mars analog story with another WBA Moon mission – Lunares Station in Poland
A short documentary film, photo exhibition, artistic pieces, and social media educational content
Recommendations and best-practice protocols (EVA, comms, conflict resolution) for future analog missions
A mission debrief and lessons-learned package to WBA/MDRS
Outreach engagements (virtual talks, classroom sessions, published mission diaries)
Personal growth, team resilience, cross-role competence, and a crew legacy of inspiration for future analog astronauts and space explorers

These deliverables will help us fulfill both our crew’s scientific objectives and the WBA’s global mission of expanding awareness, research standards, and analog cooperation.

8. Commander’s Closing Statement

Fellow crew members, as we stand on the cusp of this historic analog mission, I am honored to lead Crew 319 on Expedition 1 of the World’s Biggest Analog. This is more than a simulation, it is our chance to contribute meaningfully to humanity’s journey beyond Earth and onto newer Planets.

Each of you brings unique talents and perspectives: Ricardo with engineering rigor, Shriya with scientific curiosity, Mackenzie with narrative vision, and Elias with health and safety perspective. Together, we form a living mosaic of exploration, resilience, and creativity.

Our mission will test us: in environment, in psyche, in cooperation. But more than that, it will redefine us and allow us to explore not just Mars, but ourselves. Our success will not only be the science accomplished here at the Mars Station, but the way we support each other, adapt to surprises, and rise through challenges together.

Let us lead with empathy, discipline, curiosity, and courage. Let our data, art, words, and camaraderie echo across the global WBA network. We are writing a new chapter in analog exploration, and we can only hope that the world will watch, learn, and be inspired by our adventures here together.

Here’s to safe EVAs, crew laughter echoing in the Hab, starry nights of wonder, and a mission that leaves a legacy for future space explorers.

Onward, together.

Rym – Commander,
World’s Biggest Analog – Advanced Crew
Mars Desert Research Station