In isolated and confined settings, normative structures may extend beyond job-related activities and encompass living and recreational activities as well. Research in this area might include identifying norms that impose unnecessary limits on individual discretion, identifying important conduct areas which lack appropriate normative constraints, and dealing with potential conflicts among the norms maintained by the different groups or subsystems that are involved directly or indirectly in a mission. Inducements and deterrents which prove reliable on Earth may be unavailable or unreliable in space. Under conditions of extended-duration spaceflight, pay may lose value as an inducement. Additional research is required to determine the subjective value of pay to spacecrews, and to develop supplementary economic systems.
Many knotty issues surround the creation of formal sanction systems.
Further research is required to identify suitable policing mechanisms and to find appropriate forms of restraint and punishment. Spacecrews interact with mission control and other external or environmental organizations. Boundary-role persons, who serve as interfaces between the spacecrew and mission control will play a major role in setting the tone of such interactions. Boundary-role persons are subject to multiple influences and serve, in effect, as gatekeepers who regulate the flow of information. The evolution of tomorrow's space organization would be facilitated by a greater understanding of boundary roles.