Entering a New Era of Holistic Research in Establishing Groundwork for Future Human Space Exploration: Perspectives from the ESA-Topical Team “Stress and Immunity”

We are currently entering a new era of manned space flight, which will expand human presence to the moon and Mars as outlined in the roadmaps of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG, www.globalspaceexploration.org). This roadmap builds on the vision for “a coordinated human and robotic exploration of our solar system” within this century, and envisions permanent human colonization on the Moon and on our neighboring planet. This goal set by the established and emerging space countries and agencies, as well as by private entrepreneurs, has further fueled the pace and created impact in this new “race to space” to moon again and to Mars, following the first era in exploring the Earth orbit and the landing on the Moon in the past century. These new strategies mandate that we also need to enter a new era of holistic research to better understand human beings subjected to extreme environments for longer periods of time.