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Washington: Living on Mars was not a childhood dream for the Canadian biologist Kelly Haston, although she will soon spend a year preparing for it. “We’re just going to pretend we’re there,” the 52-year-old told AFP, summarizing her participation in an exercise simulating a long stay on the Red Planet.
At the end of June, she will be one of four volunteers entering the Mars habitat in Houston, Texas that will be their home for the next 12 months. “It still seems a little unreal to me sometimes,” she laughs.
For NASA, which carefully selected the participants, these long-term experiments make it possible to assess crew behavior in an isolated and confined environment, prior to a real mission in the future.
And the space agency warned that participants will face equipment malfunctions and water restrictions — as well as some “surprises,” Hasston said. Their communications with the outside world would suffer from the delays that exist between Earth and Mars – up to 20 minutes one way, depending on the planets’ positions – and 40 minutes two ways. “I’m really excited about this, but I’m also realistic about the challenge,” says the research scientist, whose status as a permanent resident in the United States made her eligible for the program.
The habitat, dubbed Mars Dune Alpha, is a 1,700-square-foot 3D-printed facility, complete with bedrooms, a gym, common areas, and a vertical farm to grow food. “It actually feels surprisingly spacious when you get into it,” he said Hastonwho visited last year before confirming her engagement. “And we also have an outdoor area where we’ll simulate spacewalking or walking on Mars.” This area, separated by an airlock, is strewn with red sand, though it is still covered rather than outdoors.
The crew will have to don their suits to do a “spacewalk” — “it’s probably one of the things I’m most looking forward to,” says Haston, a registered member of the Mohawk nation.
The four members of the expedition—an engineer, an emergency physician, and a nurse—didn’t have known each other before the selection process, but have met since. “We’re really, really tight-knit,” says Haston, who has been named group leader, adding that she’s looking forward to seeing those relationships grow stronger.
This mission is the first of a series of three missions planned by NASA, grouped under the title CHAPEA (Crew health and analog exploration performance).
At the end of June, she will be one of four volunteers entering the Mars habitat in Houston, Texas that will be their home for the next 12 months. “It still seems a little unreal to me sometimes,” she laughs.
For NASA, which carefully selected the participants, these long-term experiments make it possible to assess crew behavior in an isolated and confined environment, prior to a real mission in the future.
And the space agency warned that participants will face equipment malfunctions and water restrictions — as well as some “surprises,” Hasston said. Their communications with the outside world would suffer from the delays that exist between Earth and Mars – up to 20 minutes one way, depending on the planets’ positions – and 40 minutes two ways. “I’m really excited about this, but I’m also realistic about the challenge,” says the research scientist, whose status as a permanent resident in the United States made her eligible for the program.
The habitat, dubbed Mars Dune Alpha, is a 1,700-square-foot 3D-printed facility, complete with bedrooms, a gym, common areas, and a vertical farm to grow food. “It actually feels surprisingly spacious when you get into it,” he said Hastonwho visited last year before confirming her engagement. “And we also have an outdoor area where we’ll simulate spacewalking or walking on Mars.” This area, separated by an airlock, is strewn with red sand, though it is still covered rather than outdoors.
The crew will have to don their suits to do a “spacewalk” — “it’s probably one of the things I’m most looking forward to,” says Haston, a registered member of the Mohawk nation.
The four members of the expedition—an engineer, an emergency physician, and a nurse—didn’t have known each other before the selection process, but have met since. “We’re really, really tight-knit,” says Haston, who has been named group leader, adding that she’s looking forward to seeing those relationships grow stronger.
This mission is the first of a series of three missions planned by NASA, grouped under the title CHAPEA (Crew health and analog exploration performance).
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