European Space Agency

information kit
caves: training for space

European Space Agency

 Information kit
caves: training for space

Welcome to the underworld

Mission overview
Objectives

Key data

Location

Difficulty levels
Crew

Cave environment

From inner to outer space

Why CAVES?
Common stressors
Human Behavioural Performance

Getting into the cave

Training

Equipment and food

Expedition activities

Underground science

Critical issues

Exploring in the dark

Another time dimension
Communication versus isolation
Do it together

Back to the surface

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 Welcome to the underworld

Mission overview
The bowels of Earth have never been so close to space.
ESAs CAVES venture takes an international crew of
astronauts underground and prepares them to work
under real exploration conditions.
Conceived to teach astronauts how to work safely and
effectively as a team in space, CAVES (Cooperative
Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human
behaviour and performance Skills) is an extreme
training course. The expedition to the underworld
offers a rare opportunity to experience challenges
similar to those encountered during long-duration
spaceflights.
For six days, the cavenauts live and cooperate in a
pitch-black cave isolated from the outside world.
Complex cave systems some of them unmapped or
unexplored offer the perfect environment to put
trainees in space-like situations. In addition to
exploring, mapping and surveying the underground
caverns, astronauts perform a scientific programme
that includes the search for life, as they would on a
mission to another planet.

Many aspects of the location, environment and course

content have been specially designed by the right
staff, an international team of professionals that
make CAVES an extreme yet safe space analogue
experience.

Objectives
Just like in spaceflight, the successful completion of
the mission requires that the astronauts:

Adapt to living and working together in a

challenging environment
Meet team, scientific and exploration-related
mission objectives
Pay constant attention to safety rules,
procedures and limited resources
Conduct and document scientific tasks
Overcome critical situations
Face logistical problems and their psychological
consequences
Get used to the lack of privacy and comfort
Cooperate and exercise their leadership skills

Caves are totally dark - except for cavenauts own lighting. Sending astronauts and cosmonauts underground to survive and explore Sardinian caves is just one element of their long training

 Key data
Location
CAVES takes place in Sardinia, the large Italian island
in the Mediterranean Sea known throughout the
world for its stunning beaches. The rugged, sparsely
populated island contains many complex cave
systems that are an excellent place for astronaut
training. Their scale and variety are immense, with
large networks of both wet and dry caves containing
tunnels that are a tight squeeze as well as
cathedral-sized chambers.
The Sa Grutta cave is in the Lanaitho Valley, within
the Supramonte cave system of the Gennargentu
National Park, a Karst area in the middle of the island.
Karst has a special type of landscape formed by the
dissolution of rocks, including limestone and
dolomite. Caves are a distinctive feature of this
geological formation.
Discovered in the 1950s, this cave system is located
just a few kilometres away from populated areas, and
yet it is immersed in the silence of nature. Its big
entrance and wide galleries tell us that it was formed
in periods of wetter climate over a long period.

Once inside the cave, the first branches of tunnels get

progressively more difficult and it becomes harder to
advance. Accompanied by a team of cave safety
professionals and expert speleologists (cave
scientists), the astronauts have to set up camp a
few hours away from the entrance.
The caves offer plenty of maze-like environments,
three-dimensional pathways, unexplored passages
and obstacles. ESA trainers can make things even
more difficult by increasing the operational and
logistical complexity, changing stress levels and
situations while the crew explores underground.
Participants must manage to squeeze their way
through the small passages of the labyrinth, and
guide the whole crew out safely. Finding the exit
requires constant attention to detail, a sense of the
bigger picture and team coordination. While exploring
new paths, the crew creates 3D cave maps, captures
detailed photographic surveys and takes samples of
cave organisms.

Difficulty levels

Crew

The astronauts do not require any prior caving or

climbing skill, nor does the cave demand excellent
physical fitness. However, no CAVES participant would
claim that caving is physically easy. Days are long and
muscles are exercised that are not necessarily used in
everyday sports. Trainees are more comfortable and
get less sore moving in caves when they are fit.

The CAVES crew is typically formed by a dozen people.

The core of the group is made of six astronauts,
selected from ESA and American, Russian, Canadian
and Japanese space agencies. They go deep into the
cave system with safety experts and an ESA human
factors trainer. Their movements through the caves
are followed by a professional media caving team.

Posing in a cave during the orientation phase of CAVES 2011. Clockwise from left, Sergey Ryzhikov from Russia,
Norishige Kanai from Japan, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, Randolph Bresnik from NASA and ESAs Tim Peake

Cave environment
Even for experienced outdoorsmen, life in the dark, cold and humid
underground environment is a completely new situation that presents
interesting psychological and logistical problems. In many ways, cave
conditions may resemble those in extraterrestrial environments.
An agreeable temperature, large galleries and rich landscapes there are many
reasons that make the Sa Grutta cave ideal for this kind of training. Sa Grutta
has a constant temperature of 14C and 100% humidity, slightly colder than on
the International Space Station, where the temperature ranges from 18C
to 25C. The Karst system of the caves promise a few years of further
exploration, and the first designated campsite has drinking water.
Even though it does not have complex obstacles, the Sa Grutta cave poses
challenges to explorers. Venturing down a black pit, crawling through a narrow
sump, or just going into the blackness of the unknown offers great potential
for experiencing the thrill and wonders of real exploration. The unusual
environment turns out to be the most demanding yet most fulfilling aspect of
the training. Participants are rewarded for overcoming personal and team
challenges with moments of unrivalled natural beauty and a well-deserved
sense of accomplishment.

 From inner to outer space

Why CAVES?
The cave environment naturally provides many spacerelevant conditions. There is isolation from the outside
world, confinement, minimal privacy, technical
challenges and limited equipment and supplies for
hygiene and comfort just like in space.
The CAVES concept dates back to 2006. After
organising operational outdoor training courses in
combination with land and sea survival skills,
ESA started to study ways to have a closer link to how
space is experienced, explains Loredana Bessone,
course designer and coordinator of CAVES. The initial
goal was to make astronauts work more efficiently as a
team and bear the high psychological stress. While
survival situations offer a good basis to work on, a
strong resemblance to space was lacking.
As a reference ESA took competency models for
aviation training and survival courses from the Italian
special army forces. A test course took place in 2008
where international partners were invited to
participate as observers. Since then, more and more
situations similar to spaceflight were introduced
underground. The cave stopped being a mere place to
go through it became a real operational, scientific
and logistical stand-in.
CAVES is designed to recreate important aspects as
realistically as possible of long-duration spaceflight
stressors. While microgravity conditions cannot
be reproduced, the sloping and irregular surfaces,
limited light penetration, and possibility for
vertical movement offered by speleological gear
challenges three-dimensional perception of space used
for route-finding and orientation. The use of artificial
light in constant darkness alters the perception of time
and colour. The absence of natural time parameters
disrupts the circadian rhythm and lead to changing
sleep patterns.
Safety protocols and procedures also resemble those
used in spaceflight. For example, the section between
the cave entrance and base camp is rigged with metal
cables secured to the rock face high above a riverbed.

As during a spacewalk, participants must use double

tethers to ensure they are securely attached to the
cables at all times, while moving carefully to avoid
snagging equipment on sharp rocks.
CAVES is also similar to some aspects of spaceflight
operations and protocol. Participants must follow
a daily timeline with set objectives, morning and
evening planning conferences are held with
mission control for management of unusual
situations. This encourages teamwork, leadership,
followership, decision-making and development of
interpersonal skills.

Common stressors
CAVES is not a stress test. The stressors experienced are
those common to all isolated, confined and extreme
environments. Examples of stressful situations are:
getting along with team mates when tired, making
decisions as a group under conflicting priorities, and
maintaining safety in places where rescue is
complicated and slow.
Here is a list of some the stressors that exploration of
outer space shares with exploring underground.

STRESSORS OF LONG-DURATION SPACEFLIGHT*

Physiological/
Physical

Psychological

Psychosocial

Human Factors

Absence of natural
parameters

Limited possibility for

abort and rescue

Interpersonal tension
Limited exchange of
between crew and ground communications with external
environment

Altered circadian
rhythms

High-risk conditions and Family-life disruption

potential for loss of life

Limited equipment, facilities

and supplies

Decreased exposure
to sunlight

System and mission

complexity

Enforced interpersonal
contact

Mission danger and risk

associated with equipment
failure, malfunction or damage

Sensory/perceptual
deprivation of varied
natural sources

Alterations in sensory
stimuli

Multicultural issues

Food restrictions and

limitations

Sleep disturbance

Disruptions in sleep

Host/Guest
phenomenon

Technology-interface
challenges

* Morphew, 2001

Human Behavioural Performance

The CAVES course philosophy relies on the Human
Behavioural Performance (HBP) competency model for
long-term stays on the Space Station. While a
challenging experience in a team environment can be
instructive by itself, structured guidance in real-time by
a behavioural expert ensures participants get the most
out of their training time.
Behavioural experts are part of the team and
participate unobtrusively in the activities. They guide
participants to reach their goals, help them to lead
their first behavioural debriefing, and are always
available to provide objective feedback or sound advice.

ESAs HBP personnel play no role in trainee evaluation

so cavenauts can use them as much as they want as a
resource to gain or improve skills. The cavenauts are
encouraged to reflect on key events, behaviour and
their consequences. Together, the cave conditions and
mission design provide ample matter for behavioural
performance reflection. Previous CAVES participants
agreed that the most enjoyable part was both the
excellent camaraderie during the mission and the
exhilaration that comes from exploring a new
environment.

Rock climbing is part of the outdoor training participants

Getting into the cave

Training
The total duration of the course is 12 days. Participants
must be mentally, technically and physically prepared
for the cave expedition. Before getting into real action,
astronauts undergo a mix of classroom and outdoor
instruction for four days.
The crew benefits from full immersion into topics
such as how to explore subterranean environments,
how caves are formed or what are the best ways to
communicate with each other. Technical lectures also
cover emergency procedures and the science of
speleology. During the course, they learn to orient
themselves and how to get out of the cave in case
someone is injured.
Instructors refresh practical Human Behaviour
Performance tools and strategies for the astronauts
such as stress-management techniques, analytic
decision-making, briefing and debriefing. Participants

must organize the team and responsibilities, and plan

for logistical needs. Setting concrete personal and
team goals is also part of the pre-cave training.
Outdoor training gives astronauts a taste of the
mission field. On prepared areas, experienced caving
instructors introduce them to specialised equipment.
Practice of rock-climbing skills such as ascending,
traversing, and descending continues until all
participants are competent.
The cavenauts are also exposed to a complex cave
with multiple routes, and their goal is to remember
the way out. It is difficult to recognise the path when
you turn back. Everyone took a wrong turn at some
point - but as a team we managed to achieve the
objective and a valuable lesson was learnt,
remembers ESA astronaut Tim Peake from his CAVES
2011 experience.

CAVES Timeline

Days 1-4
Preparatory Training
Practical lessons, demonstrations
and exercises, familiarisation with
cave progression techniques, HBP
basics.

Days 5-10
Extended Caves Exploration
Caves exploration, surveying,
photography and science
programme.

Days 11-12
Post-mission phase
Equipment return, final debriefing,
peer and course feedback, postmission report & presentation
preparation, final presentation.

Time for individual or group physical activities are also

planned to ensure participants feel well-stretched
and warmed-up prior to the expedition. By the time
they arrive at the camp site they are ready to explore
the cave in total autonomy.

Equipment and food

Just as astronauts, cavenauts travel light. They share
tents, ropes and kitchen gear. At the cave entrance,
participants leave behind any unnecessary load. Like
in the Space Station, underwear and socks are
changed every other day. Three pairs of socks and
three pieces of underwear are enough for the six-day
experience. The crew will wear caving suits and even
special pyjamas. Toothbrush and soda bicarbonate are
part of the basic hygiene and health kits.
No one ventures out of the 10-m-wide base camp
without the proper equipment. A helmet, a harness,
two headlamps and all kinds of caving gear go in the
backpack. There are tools that make astronaut life
easier, such as measuring tapes, laser range-finders
for measuring distances and the indispensable
multipurpose tool.
The menu for CAVES is limited by transport capacity
and storage requirements, just as in space. Although
participants make their own cave-dwelling food
selection during a tasting exercise, diet mainly
consists of dried and canned foods.

Expedition activities
CAVES gets real when the astronauts enter the caves
mouth. Once inside, the technical instructors lead the
team to a base camp a few hours inside the mountain,
providing supervision and instruction as participants
apply their new skills to various cave obstacles.
At base camp the team is left to set up the tents and
organise themselves. Technical instructors delegate
all planning and decision-making authority to
the teams elected leader. From that moment,
the campsite becomes their home for six dark days.
The daily routine is organised around timelines. Every
day, the team performs exploration, mapping and
sample taking as part of the scientific activities
related to the cave environment.

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Part of the CAVES 2011 expedition poses next to cave lakes. Looking for life, participants do scientific sampling in these clear and drinkable waters

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Mastering ascending and descending skills while

carrying backpacks full of rocks is not enough to
explore a cave. Mapping is a crucial part of the
expedition activities. Participants divide themselves in
scout teams to find new routes, create photographic
reportages and make accurate cave surveys of the
rooms they discover. At every step, they could bump
into a sump, splash into a lake or find breath-taking
new cave formations.

CAVES mission tasks include managing supplies and

resources. In the evening, there is a daily planning
conference with the ground support team to ensure
that all personnel needs are covered for the next day,
to report on daily activities, and to make the ground
support team aware of the upcoming plans for the
next day. Space-like operations are applied all the way
through.

Technical instructors are always nearby, particularly

during exploration of new areas of the cave system.
They can intervene before safety is compromised, and
cave rescue services are on standby at all times.
Astronauts are taken to the Safe Haven, which is an
emergency meeting point, to familiarise themselves
with the area before they set up camp. Safety is prime,
in caves as in space.

Science is a fixed part of the expedition. Like in the

International Space Station, astronauts carry out
around five experiments each day. This number can
increase depending on what they find on their way.

Underground science

Scientific work includes mapping the area, taking

photographs, monitoring air flow, temperature and
humidity, as well as taking geological and
microbiological samples. Participants test the quality

of the water, and hunt for pictures of little

cave-dwellers. In the dark environment of the cave,
photography becomes a challenge and helmet lamps
are an indispensable tool to light scenes.
Astronauts are taught during training to strictly
follow procedures. Multitasking and high
concentration at all times are required to conduct
tasks exactly as meant to be. The crew fill in
fact-sheets and tables, write down the description of
the area and collect as much data as possible.
Scientists back home will be looking at details when
analysing those samples.
The CAVES experience gets participants acquainted to
the methods of sampling. They collect minerals that
are growing in the cave, various sediments, water and
even analyse the microbiology of the air they breathe.
Microbiological contamination from the caving
activities is also checked.

Looking for life is an extra challenge for the mission.

Astronauts learn microbiological sampling and
biological baiting techniques to detect underground
life. Due to the high air-flow, there are no bats in the
cave, but strange creatures and new specimens could
live in this alien environment.
Open traps with food are left in certain spots to
attract animals, particularly arthropods. Aided by a
book detailing around 20 species, the cavenauts must
identify and count their living prey. They also go
fishing for small organisms in the dozens of lakes the
cave has. A net allows them to do scientific sampling
in the water and a catch of crustaceans that
specialists can later analyse and identify.
CAVES produces long-term scientific data too. After
installing antennas and an anemometer, the
monitoring equipment gives constant information
about wind velocity and direction, as well as the
temperature and humidity within the cavity.
Astronauts produce graphs from the recorded data
that help scientists understand how the cave
breathes. The correlation between the temperature
outside and inside Sa Grutta tells a lot about its
morphology, and indicates the possible existence of
another yet unmapped entrance.
Going exploring is not only about running around and
enjoying yourself, but requires documenting
everything. Armed with a compass, measurement
tapes and laser distance-meters, the crew must
size-up every passage, produce topographic surveys
and take properly exposed images.

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 Critical issues
Exploring in the dark
Being in a cave is something like mountaineering, but
much more challenging. The isolation, darkness and
the possibility of snagging on sharp rocks or crevices
mean you simply dont know what to expect when
exploring a cave.
Headlamps offer small areas of illumination and
therefore limited field of view. A bulky protective
overall, boots, and cave bag further reduce agility.
The protective gloves used to handle cables and ropes
reduce sensitivity and dexterity, making equipment
difficult to work with and requires special attention to
make sure clips and buckles are properly secured.
Astronauts must be aware of the location and safety
of others to ascend or descend a vertical obstacle.
Only one person can be attached to a cable section
at a time, and participants must constantly
communicate when the cable is free or occupied.

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The truly beautiful cathedral-like landscape inside

the cave, with its gleaming stalactites and stalagmites
for tens of millions of years in the making, puts you
in perspective about the short period humans have
been on this planet.

Communication versus isolation

Another time dimension

Time in caves passes very strangely. There are few
external stimuli no smell other than yourself,
no sounds except from the water drops falling from
the ceiling of the cave.
The use of artificial light in constant darkness alters the
perception of time and colour. The absence of natural
time indicators may also modify the circadian rhythm
and lead to sleep alterations. As on a space mission, the
daily routine is organised around timelines.
The fascinating experience makes participants reflect
on timescales. As ESA astronaut Tim Peake puts it,

The team lives and works in close quarters. This

ensures interpersonal contact, forcing participants
to confront personal and intercultural differences.
If disagreement arises, solutions must be found.
In a mission dominated by isolation, effective
communication, constant situational awareness,
cooperative teamwork and stress management are
key for success.
Planning sessions are held twice a day through a
telephone line to the support team at the cave
entrance. The ground team can provide information
about conditions that might affect the mission, help
to coordinate exploration and science tasks, organise
a resupply shipment or serve as a means of
emergency communication. One of the hardest parts
of the experience is being out of contact with family
and friends.

A rudimentary phone line connects the cavenauts to the outside world

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Participant during a cavewalk. Similar to spacewalks, astronauts had to use a strict tethering protocol to move during the long traverse to the exploration area

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Echoes and sound dispersion in the cave can threaten

the flow of information. In order to effectively
communicate, participants use simple phrases when
talking with team members. Scouts cannot go further
than the distance travelled by voice from the group.
Trailing participants must acknowledge every
message, and must also pass information forward if
the team risks becoming too spread out.

an inflatable boat in the underground lakes? Should

they continue together or divide themselves into
small groups? Above all, they value the friendships
forged between them.

Do it together
Teamwork is one of the primary goals of CAVES. Before
going underground the crew organises itself and
distributes tasks. The team leader takes care of
organising the crew and the activities of the day,
ensures daily reports and debriefings and takes
decisions along the way. The campsite manager
takes care of inventory, logistics of resupply and the
campsite organisation. One team member is in charge
of photographic surveying while another takes
responsibility for exploration and mapping. Two more
astronauts handle the technical and scientific
programmewith the data and samples that are taken.
The crew has to find both effective and creative
solutions to the problems they encounter on their
way. Different cultures, languages and backgrounds
must be in tune to achieve mission success.
Astronauts recall that exploring unknown passages
and having to make decisions on how to proceed are
the most exciting moments. Should they use ropes or
Cave team portrait. From left, Norishige Kanai from Japan, ESA astronauts Tim Peake and Thomas Pesquet, Randolph Bresnik from USA, and Sergey Ryzhikov from Russia

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Discovering cave wonderland during cave familiarisation training

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 Back to the surface

On the final day, it takes the team five hours to get out of the
cave, together with a technical caving team and a support
team. Once outside participants are overwhelmed by the
natural light and the colours and fragrances.
We really had a feeling of being far away. When we came back,
everything on the surface looked strange: the blue of the sky
and other colours looked painted with very bright colours and
all the smells of nature were so strong. The real world felt alltoo real, exaggerated, remembers ESA astronaut Thomas
Pesquet about his CAVES 2011 experience. Tim also experienced
the sensory overload. It was as if someone had turned the
contrast fully up on a television. I was able to smell lichen on
the trees, which I had been oblivious to prior to entering the
cave.
After participants enjoy a hot shower and a meal back at the
refuge, there is time to provide peer feedback, for an optional
session with an HBP facilitator, and to finish reports of
exploration and science results. The reports are sent to
authorities and used as a starting point for the next CAVES
courses.
At the end of the mission, the crew goes through a final
debriefing and gives a handover presentation for the next
cavenauts. In accordance with ESAs HBP training philosophy,
observations conducted during the expedition are for the
benefit of participants, and results are shared with them.
This allows astronauts to focus their energy on adapting
their behaviour and working on improvements.
CAVES participants get a good taste of exploration. They come
to understand what a mission takes in terms of logistics and
how a single failure can become a big problem. They reflect
more on missions to the International Space Station and even
to Mars.
When exploring other celestial bodies, astronauts may one day
need caving skills. Caves provide some protection from
radiation and meteor showers, as well as relative warmth from
the outside. The next caves to be explored could be on the
Red Planet...

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For further information, please contact:

ESA/ESTEC
Communication Office
Tel: +31 71 565 3009
E-mail: hsocom@esa.int

Credits
This document has been compiled, written and produced by
the European Space Agency in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
2012 European Space Agency
Photo credits: E
 SA/ Randy Bresnik, Vittorio Crobu,
Thomas Pesquet, Sirio Sechi