page_title: ESA CAVES
section_title: A space analogue
hierarchical_section_title: ESA CAVES / A space analogue
caption_attribution_description: English: Astronaut in a squeeze during the caves training.
context_page_description: CAVES, an acronym for Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills, is a European Space Agency astronaut training course in which international astronauts train in a space-analogue cave environment. The course is designed at the European Astronaut Center to prepare astronauts for safe and efficient long duration spaceflight operations by means of a realistic scientific and exploration mission within a multicultural, ISS-representative team.
  Each training implementation last for approximately two weeks. In the first week, the so-called "cavenauts" are provided with the necessary scientific knowledge and technical skills to work effectively and safely in the underground environment and visit some simple caves to get acquainted with the condition they will find during their expedition. Afterwards, they spend six uninterrupted days exploring a complex cave system. The main purpose of the mission is to foster their communication, decision-making, problem-solving, leadership and team dynamics capabilities by means of team processes and a real crew mission performed in a space-like environment.
context_section_description: The cave environment is an exceptional space analogue, as it allows to recreate, on Earth, most of the stress elements and specific characteristics encountered in long duration spaceflight. Such peculiar elements include:
  Unknown / unfamiliar environment – The crew knows about the cave only what previous expeditions have found and documented
  Permanent darkness / need for artificial illumination
  Lack of time parameters – This is a direct consequence of the condition of permanent darkness in the cave
  Alteration of circadian rhythm and sleep disturbance – The lack of time references and limited facilities affect sleep quality and cycles length
  Sensory alteration / deprivation – Not only caves are lightless, they also provide almost no auditory or olfactory stimuli
  Limited privacy – Small, confined spaces do not offer much room for privacy or to keep spaces between team members
  Social and cultural aspects / crew size – The team includes with astronauts from ESA, NASA, ROSCOSMOS, CSA, JAXA and CNSA, so the team dynamics that emerge during the mission are similar to those expected on an international cooperative space mission
  Limited resources / hygiene – The transportation logistics inside the cave is extremely complex, only limited supplies can be carried inside
  Isolation / Limited communication with outside world – The crew can only rely on a telephone line up to just beyond the basecamp or radio devices working only in specific locations
  Large level of autonomy – This is a direct consequence of the isolation condition, the crew need to operate with minimal inputs from outside
  Real physical danger – Even implementing all reasonable safety measures, caves still present risks of falling, slipping, rocks tumbling down, being blocked by landslides and floodings, and participants need to pay constant attention to these aspects
  Limited mission abort / rescue capabilities – Given the complexity of the environment, both evacuation and rescue operations require several hours or even days to  plan
  Another analogue aspect concerns astronauts progression, i.e. how they move inside the cave. The employed speleological techniques involve safety principles similar to that of EVA, such as the need to be attached to a safe surface – the cave wall in CAVES, the ISS or the vehicle in space. Last, the crew mission performed during the exploration has several elements in common with the ISS operations, including a time-lined sequence of activities, daily planning calls to the ground support team, standardized procedures and data collection forms.
caption: Astronaut in a squeeze during the caves training.
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