NASA to launch year long experiment to simulate life on Mars

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
12 Apr 2023 08:33

NASA intends to host volunteers in a Houston-based facility that will reproduce life on the red planet in preparation for future missions to Mars.

Part of the 'Mars Dune Alpha' facility which aims to simulate exploration on Mars through gravity-adjusted treadmills and VR technology, Houston, Texas, US, 17 March 2023. (@NASA_Johnson/Twitter)

NASA revealed on Tuesday its new Mars-simulation habitat, which will host volunteers and test their living experiences in a year-long experiment to simulate life on Mars.

The facility consists of four small rooms and a gym, which will be home to three experiments under the title: Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA).

The experiments will take place at the US space agency’s research base in Houston, Texas. Four volunteers will take part in the first trial this summer. NASA will monitor the physical and mental health of the participants to better its understanding of the effects of human behavior during long periods of isolation.

According to Grace Douglas, a lead researcher on the CHAPEA experiments, NASA will have a better understanding of astronauts' decision-making and the value of each of the scarce resources provided to the team through the new study.

"We can really start to understand how we're supporting them with what we're providing them, and that's going to be really important information to making those critical resource decisions," Douglas said on a press tour of the facility.

Settling on Mars comes with “very strict mass limitations”, due to logistical and environmental factors which will drastically alter the astronauts living experiences.

The facility is comprised of a 160 square-meter home, which includes 2 bathrooms, a vertical farm to grow vegetables, a room for medical care, an area for relaxing, and several workstations.

The habitat was 3-D printed, Douglas said, "That is one of the technologies that NASA is looking at as a potential to build a habitat on other planetary or lunar surfaces.”

Mars is calling. ☎️

To help us prepare for missions to the Red Planet, @NASA is working with partners to 3D-print Mars Dune Alpha, a simulated Mars habitat and future home to Mars mission simulation crews at @NASA_Johnson.

Learn more: https://t.co/sizJlzHPEG pic.twitter.com/2GkbwSdbH3
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) October 19, 2021

Mission still in experimental stages

“Mars Dune Alpha” will be located inside an area that simulates the Martian environment, which is characterized by the heavy amount of red sand surrounding the habitat.

Equipment that astronauts would find resourceful is scattered all around the ground such as a weather station, a brick-making device, and a small greenhouse.

A treadmill that simulates the lesser gravity of the red planet has also been installed outside the facility.

It is meant to reproduce long trips that astronauts will be taking to collect samples, gather data or build infrastructure, according to Suzanne Bell, head of NASA’s Behavioral Health and Performance Laboratory.

She jokingly added, "We really can't have them just walking around in circles for six hours."

Although the members of the experiment team have not yet been named, the organization indicated that selection "will follow standard NASA criteria for astronaut candidate applicants," with a focus on backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and math.

The study will also assess crew members' responses to situations of distress, as researchers will restrict water availability or sabotage equipment in the facility.

The Agency is still in the experimental stages of a possible mission to Earth’s neighboring planet. The agency has put most of its resources into Artemis missions which aim to put humans back on the Moon for the first time in over 50 years.