By Courtney Pulley, Aedanaya Diamond and Maya Moriarty
Members, AARG
Space analog missions are designed to resemble some of the operational and psychological conditions associated with spaceflight. While they cannot reproduce microgravity or the engineering constraints of spacecraft and orbital stations, they provide structured environments where crews can:
- Simulate mission operations
- Conduct research
- Experience aspects of living and working within constrained systems
The American Public University System (APUS) Analog Research Group (AARG) has successfully performed missions at a range of analog environments. In November 2025, AARG was asked to evaluate the potential of a new habitat at the Concordia Language Villages, which led to the AARG-1E (“E” for ECOS) mission.
Using BioHaus for the ECOS Mission
The facility used for the mission, the Waldsee BioHaus, is the first certified German Passivhaus in North America and is designed to help users understand energy conservation and green building principles. Located in Bemidji, Minnesota, it uses about 85% less energy than comparable structures in the United States.
BioHaus – which we christened “ECOS” after the Greek word for “home” – was not originally designed as an analog habitat, but rather to support immersive language and cultural programs for students. That origin shaped much of our experience during the mission.
The Crew of the ECOS Mission
Our crew consisted of four women from different professional and academic backgrounds. Each crew member brought their experience from other analog environments, including:
- The University of North Dakota’s Integrated Lunar/Martian Analog Habitat (ILMAH)
- The University of Arizona’s Space Analog for the Moon and Mars (SAM) at Biosphere 2
- The Mars Society’s Mars Deseret Research Station (MDRS)
- The Jules Verne Undersea Lab
One crew member also brought her experience from working and living at McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
Our prior experiences living in analog habitats helped us to evaluate how ECOS might function as an analog habitat.
Daily Life in ECOS
During the mission, we lived and worked at ECOS for seven days. Our crew consisted of:
- Mission Commander Courtney Pulley
- Mission Specialists Aedanaya Diamond, Rachel Jones and Maya Moriarty
When we arrived, the first phase of the mission focused on establishing an operational rhythm. We reviewed procedures, became familiar with ECOS, and adapted to a structured daily schedule. As the mission progressed, we focused more fully on research activities and habitat evaluation.
The layout of ECOS differs from most purpose-built analog habitats. It is relatively open, with shared spaces designed for larger groups rather than small crews.
Our activities took place in areas which were visible and accessible to everyone. That accessibility changed how we coordinated our work, compared to more segmented environments like the SAM at Biosphere 2 or ILMAH habitats.
Our days followed a steady pattern. In the morning, we typically had planning discussions to coordinate research tasks, such as taking measurements of the microgreens and preparing for EVAs, and align them with our daily objectives.
Our main daily objective was to evaluate ECOS as an analog space, so we coordinated the daily research tasks with habitat evaluation. Properly structuring our day to accommodate all of our tasks was important to ensure all measurements and evaluations were done accurately.
Our data collection partly focused on the functionality of ECOS, including how it supported our daily operations and crew movement. We also conducted biological observations, including tracking the growth of microgreens and mushrooms over the course of the mission. These experiments provided a way to examine how small-scale food production might function within ECOS.
Aedanaya, whose graduate work focuses on crew response to plant-based diets, observed: “Everything was dried, freeze-dried, or preserved in some way, and either vegan or plant-based. It’s most likely going to be a necessity for long-duration space missions. We also had the microgreens and mushrooms we were growing to give us something fresh, which was nice.”
EVAs in a Winter Environment
Extravehicular activities (EVAs) were a central part of the mission. Participating in a winter EVA with subzero temperatures carries significant risks that require intense preparation that included:
- Defining EVA objectives
- Organizing equipment
- Coordinating roles
The Minnesotan temperatures were well below zero degrees Fahrenheit during the mission. As a result, any liquid – including sweat and tears – would freeze quickly to whatever surface it was touching, which included our hair, eyelashes, and clothing.
To combat the cold temperatures, we dedicated extra time and care to donning the winter extravehicular activity suits and making sure they were worn correctly.
Another important part of winter EVAs was making sure that our crew members were properly hydrated before attempting the EVA. Dehydration can sneak up faster on you in the cold than the heat because your thirst is decreased. Consequently, the signs of dehydration are not as obvious as they are in hot weather.
The forests, frozen lakes and wildlife prints in the snow made our winter EVAs interesting. But once crew members were outside, our focus shifted to safety as our team completed their tasks, maintained communication, and remained aware of both the harsh environment and each other.
During each EVA, we worked through our various objectives, such as:
- Checking communications for functionality
- Inspecting the suits for integrity and function
- Rehearsing the EVA plans to make sure everyone knew their role and what tasks they needed to do
This was especially critical because movement across the uneven terrain, managing equipment, and maintaining coordination required our sustained attention to ensure the EVAs were both safe and successful.
Even in a terrestrial setting, these EVA tasks took on a different character. This kind of winter EVA had not been attempted by anyone during previous analog habitat missions, so we were both nervous and excited.
Once you’re out of the habitat and wearing an EVA suit, you start to understand how isolated you really are. More risks and challenges become apparent, and you may not have considered them when living in an analog habitat.
In the Minnesotan environment, there is no human interaction. The only signs of life are tracks left by local wildlife. The stillness and quietness of true isolation can be overwhelming at first, especially if you’re used to lots of background noise.
Somewhere along the way, living in ECOS stopped feeling like a site we were to just evaluate and started feeling more like a place we made our own for a short time. After all, it was the one place that offered warmth and refuge from the freezing conditions outside of minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit!” – Mission Specialist Maya Moriarty
This Mission Felt Different from Previous Analog Missions
Inside the habitat, our daily routines looked different than they did in a more confined analog habitat. The size of ECOS meant there was ample space to spread out, so cooking, working and moving around the habitat rarely required coordination.
Instead, the challenge was less about negotiating space and more about maintaining a shared operational rhythm in a much larger environment.
The presence of windows that provided visual access to the outdoors also shaped our experience. While seeing the outdoor environment made our experience more comfortable, it reduced the sense of the space-like setting that would be expected in a purpose-built analog habitat with most of the windows covered. Balancing realism with safety and accessibility is an ongoing challenge in analog research.
By the end of our mission, the work routines that initially required deliberate coordination became more natural. Our tasks, research activities, and daily responsibilities began to fit together with less effort as we adjusted to both ECOS and each other.
Courtney reminded us early in the mission, “Remember that this mission is a temporary experience, and it too will pass.”
Though the ECOS mission lasted only seven days, the “memories will stay with us for a lifetime,” according to Maya.
Why Are Analog Habitat Missions Important?
In space, everything that humans need to survive on earth has to be created or removed in certain ways. Analog habitats are important because they give us the ability to study and develop ways of living and working in constrained environments. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of this type of habitat will be imperative if the human race wants to travel to Mars or settle on another planet.
The ECOS mission served as our opportunity to evaluate how a facility not originally intended for analog habitat use might still support mission operations. It also reinforced the role that analog environments play in preparing crews to think through the practical realities of living and working in constrained environments.
For students and faculty at the University, these analog research missions offer a way to directly participate and experience the challenges associated with space exploration. Working within an environment like ECOS provides a great perspective on how habitat design, team dynamics, and operational structure interact during a mission.
From a different perspective, the missions challenge students and faculty from all walks of life and backgrounds. They also give participants an opportunity to use the knowledge and experience that they have to contribute to the development of the space industry. Analog habitats are the starting point for research that will eventually be used in some way to develop projects in the space industry.
Our mission was a great success in evaluating the potential of ECOS for use as an analog habitat. The lessons we learned will hopefully enable this habitat to be used to conduct future research, solve challenges and create memories that will leave an impact on the space industry for years to come.
About the Authors
Courtney Pulley is a graduate of American Military University and holds a bachelor’s degree in sports and health sciences with a concentration in exercise science. As crew commander, she participated in the AARG-9i mission at ILMAH and the ECOS mission at Concordia Language Villages.
For both missions, her work involved studying the fatigue on astronauts created by the use of EVA suits. Her work experience includes cryotherapy, rehabilitation and Chinese medicine.
Aedanaya Diamond earned a master’s degree in space studies with a concentration in astronomy from American Public University. Aedanaya previously served as a crew commander for the ARG-7i mission and a mission specialist for the ARG-1S mission. Her research focused on evaluating vegan diets in space environments.
Maya Moriarty is an undergraduate student currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in space studies at American Military University. She has a background in physics, biology, and mathematics, and ECOS is her first analog mission.
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