More than 270 people from 23 countries have visited the International Space Station (ISS) in over two decades. Aiming to better understand the small-scale social set of the ISS, the adaptation of humans to this challenging environment and the actual use of its spaces and equipment, an international research team is conducting the first large-scale… archeology mission in Space and publishing the first results in the open access journal “PLOS ONE”.

As the research team judged that the interviews of the crew members were not enough to capture their living conditions on the ISS, they used the archaeological practice of the test section adapted to Space and the fact that scientists could not be present at the work. The aim was to then select areas for more extensive ‘excavation’.

Six locations on the ISS were chosen for the preliminary research, and astronauts in 2022 were asked to take pictures of each location every day for 60 days, so that the researchers could then study the use of the spaces and the objects used by the crew.

The first findings from the International Space Station Archaeological Project and the first two study areas are presented in the publication. This is an area dedicated to equipment maintenance (block 3) and another near the toilets and exercise equipment (block 5). Analysis of photographs in these areas revealed 5,438 objects used for various purposes.

The space intended for the maintenance of the equipment was found not to be used for the purpose for which it was created for a long time and instead has become a storage space for objects of all kinds. Block 5 was also found to be an empty space, ultimately used to store toiletries and other items, but not intended to have storage areas.

As noted, the findings demonstrate how traditional archaeological techniques can be adapted to study remote habitats or areas with extreme conditions.

The authors note that “the experiment is the first archeology ever done outside of planet Earth. By applying a very traditional method of sampling an area to an entirely new kind of archaeological context, we show how the ISS crew uses different areas of the space station in ways that deviate from mission plans.

Architects and designers of future space stations can learn valuable lessons from this project.”

Photo: From a sampling area in the maintenance work area of ​​the International Space Station (block 3). A crew berth is visible to the right. The yellow dotted line indicates the boundaries of the sampling area. CREDIT: Walsh et al., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0