The use of micro-worlds for human factors research in extended spaceflight.

This article provides an analysis of the utility of micro-worlds for human factors research in extended spaceflight. It outlines potential areas of application of the micro-world research paradigm in the context of spaceflight. While the research literature provides several examples of micro-worlds that simulate different work environments of high complexity, little work has been done with this tool in the operational environment of spaceflight. The author presents a micro-world, called CAMS, that has been especially developed for use in space-related research. The results from a research programme (comprising seven studies using CAMS) are presented. Based on a comparative analysis of the benefits and limitations of micro-worlds compared to other simulation types, the author argues that micro-worlds can be a very effective tool, provided their inherent limitations are taken into consideration.