The simulated mission to Mars was part of NASA’s ‘Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog’ project. The astronauts have lived in a habitat simulating Mars conditions for a year.
The volunteer crew members who have passed more than one year in a simulated environment of Marte They left their ship this weekend. Kelly Haston, Anca Selariu, Ross Brockwell and Nathan Jones entered the 3D printed habitat on June 25, 2023 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
It was part of a series of similar missions of the US space agency to simulate year-long stays on Mars. The crew simulated different operations, including ‘Marswalks’ (walks on the Red Planet) and the vegetable growing to complement your diet.
They operated under the additional stress factors that a crew on Mars will experience, such as delays in communications with Earth, resource limitations, and isolation,” NASA explained.
Haston, the mission commander, began with a simple “Hello, it’s wonderful to say hello to all of you,” he said. Jones, doctor and medical officer of the mission, stated that his 378 days of confinement “passed quickly.”
They have lived and worked in a space of less than 160 square meters
They are planned two other similar missions and crews will continue to conduct simulated spacewalks and collect data on factors related to health and physical and behavioral performance, the company explained. NASA.
The four volunteers spoke of the gratitude they felt for each other and for those waiting patiently outside, as well as the learned lessons about a possible manned mission to Mars and life on Earth.
Brockwell, the crew’s flight engineer, said the mission had shown him the importance of living sustainablyand was “grateful for the opportunity to live the idea that we should use resources no faster than they can be replenished and produce waste no faster than they can be processed back into resources.”
The scientific manager, Anca Selariu, said that she had been asked many times why there is a fixation on Mars. “Why go to Mars? Because it’s possible”, said. “Because space can unite us and bring out the best in us. Because it is a decisive step that ‘earthlings’ will take to illuminate the path to the next centuries.”
