REAL LIFE NEWS: SIMULATED MARS COLONISTS EMERGE FROM ISOLATION
by Hazed
NASA has been keeping six people locked up in isolation for the past eight months. Sounds cruel! But it was for a reason – it was part of preparation for a future manned mission to Mars.
The wannabe-colonists were sealed into a solar-powered geodesic dome on top of a Hawaiian volcano. The dome had around 1,200 square feet of floor space, one shower, and two composting toilets. Communications with the outside world were time delayed for 20 minutes, and the crew had to wear spacesuits to leave the facilities.
This is about as close as we can get to simulating conditions that Mars colonists would experience – the biggest difference being that we can’t reduce the gravity to the level on Mars, which is about a third of that on Earth.
Their meals consisted of freeze-dried food, along with plants grown in the laboratory. Mission botanist Joshua Ehrlich said, “Carrots, peppers, pok choi, Chinese cabbage, mustard greens, radishes, tomatoes, potato’s, tons of parsley and oregano. It was phenomenal, just that delicious fresh taste from home – it was good.” Thankfully they didn’t have to subsist on poo potatoes (as the astronaut in the film The Martian had to do).
The purpose of the mission was to see how the crew members coped with the long confinement in a small space. They all wore sensors which showed their position at all times so mission controllers could see if they were trying to isolate themselves, or having face-to-face arguments.
The simulation was run by the University of Hawaii. Kim Binsted, principal investigator on the project, explained: “The University of Hawaii is going to be giving NASA essential information about how you pick individual astronauts and how you put them together in a crew, but also how you support them over these long-duration missions.”
Another mission is being planned with a different crew. Meanwhile, the crew of this mission have been reunited with their friends and family – and treated to a meal of fresh fruit and doughnuts.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/18/nasa_earthonauts_emerge_from_8mo_isolation/
