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The four volunteers who have been locked up for over a year by NASA in a habitat designed to simulate life on Mars, whether inside a base or exploring outside, have finally completed their mission. Their experience will be used to prepare future long-term missions to the red planet.
After 378 days of confinement, the members of the CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) mission were finally able to go out and be reunited with their loved ones.
Sent to Mars… or almost
For over a year, Kelly Haston (commander), Ross Brockwell (flight engineer), Nathan Jones (military doctor) and Anca Selariu (chief scientist) coexisted in a dedicated 160 m2 3D-printed space.
The complex includes four small individual dwellings in addition to the common living area and an “outdoor space” reconstructed from red sand. The goal of this unique mission is to contribute to research on human health and performance when isolated and confined.
Assessing behaviors in stressful situations
For more than a year, the crew simulated a multitude of operations related to a Mars mission, including “walks” into uncharted territory. The four guinea pigs were able to maintain their equipment and habitat, grow and harvest vegetables, and work under simulated stressful conditions, such as isolation, limited on-site resources and communication delays with their interlocutors on Earth.
These simulations collected data on both the physical and cognitive performance of the volunteers, in order to better understand the impact of the next long-duration missions to Mars on the health of a crew. This information should help NASA better prepare astronauts for these still unprecedented missions. Other simulations, also lasting one year, should follow, in the same facilities.
While waiting to set foot on Martian soil, it is the Moon that the Americans are preparing to reconquer, through the Artemis program. NASA intends to establish a long-term presence on the Moon for scientific and exploration purposes, again to best prepare for future missions to the red planet.