First ever space archaeology study reveals secret habits of ISS astronauts

Study calls for future space stations to have more multipurpose interiors to improve crew autonomy

A world-first archaeological survey of the International Space Station has revealed how astronauts adapt to its living space, an advance that could help design future versions of the orbiting outpost.

The ISS, a crowning achievement of global cooperation in space research, has been home to a changing crew of astronauts for nearly a quarter century.

Nasa and allied space agencies intend to keep the ISS afloat until 2030 after which a SpaceX vehicle is slated to attach to the station and safely deorbit it down to Earth.

In the meantime, surveys of astronaut life aboard the station can help design future space habitats, researchers said.

The new study had each astronaut mark one square metre of the station using tape and document it with daily photographs.

Square 3 in the starboard maintenance work area of the ISS used in the study (Nasa)

The locations the squares were marked in included a galley table, workstations and a wall across the latrine where astronauts kept their toiletries.

Researchers studied how each of these spaces was used over 60 days in 2022. “The crew marked out six sample locations around the ISS and documented them through daily photography over a 60-day period,” researchers said.

They identified over 5,400 instances of space station items in use and labelled them by type and function.

In this way, they documented how astronauts adapt to life in microgravity and how international cooperation pans out in such tight quarters.

Researchers found that certain areas were associated with particular astronaut behaviours “over the long duration across many crews”.

The findings reveal how astronauts use their space for work and leisure while in orbit.

For instance, by cross-referencing photos with astronaut activity reports, researchers found that the area near the exercise equipment which wasn’t designated for a particular purpose was being used to store toiletries and a rarely used computer.

Another area designated for equipment maintenance seemed defunct with hardly any kind of work being done. It was instead being used to store “all kinds of items”.

“Designers of future workstations in space should consider that they might need to optimise for functions other than work, because most of the time, there might not be any work happening there,” scientists wrote.

A cutaway image of the ISS US Orbital segment shows locations of study sites Square 3 and Square 5 (Nasa)

The study suggests that designers of future space stations could define their interiors more flexibly to improve crew autonomy over their lives.

“We were a pretty organised crew who was also pretty much on the same page about how to do things,” one astronaut said, according to the study.

“As time went on we organised the lab and kind of got on the same page about where we put things and how we’re going to do things.”

The research also shows that traditional archaeological techniques can be adapted to study extreme habitats occupied by humans, such as Antarctic research stations or the peak of Mount Everest.

“Archaeology is not just about the very distant past. It’s about using objects, artefacts, built spaces and architecture as primary evidence for how humans behave, interpret and adapt to the world around them,” study co-author Justin Walsh from the University of Southern California said.

“Archaeology has a place in space,” Dr Walsh said.