NASA has picked four volunteers to spend 45 days in a Mars-like simulation at the Johnson Space Center’s HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) in Houston. Starting Friday, Nov. 1, Obaid Alsuwaidi, Kristen Magas, Tiffany Snyder, and Anderson Wilder will live and work in a 650-square-foot habitat, mimicking what life could be like for astronauts on Mars. They’ll “return” to Earth on Monday, Dec. 16. Two alternates, Jordan Hundley and Robert Wilson, are also ready to step in if needed.
Life on “Mars”: Tasks and challenges
While “on Mars,” the crew will grow vegetables, cultivate shrimp, and even use virtual reality to practice walking on the Martian surface. To make it feel even more real, they’ll experience communication delays of up to five minutes. On an actual Mars mission, these delays could stretch up to 20 minutes each way.
The mission is packed with science. The crew will participate in 18 studies led by NASA’s Human Research Program to learn how living in such conditions affects their bodies and minds. The findings will help NASA solve the challenges of keeping astronauts healthy and focused during long trips to Mars and beyond.
This simulation is another step toward making human exploration of Mars a reality—turning today’s experiments into tomorrow’s space missions.
Source: NASA.
Photo: Courtesy of C7M4 Crew/NASA
