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Scientists Enter Hawaii Dome In Eight-Month Mars Space Mission Study (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Six scientists have entered a dome perched atop a remote volcano in Hawaii where they will spend the next eight months in isolation to simulate life for astronauts traveling to Mars, the University of Hawaii said. The study is designed to help NASA better understand human behavior and performance during long space missions as the U.S. space agency explores plans for a manned mission to the Red Planet. The crew will perform geological field work and basic daily tasks in the 1,200-square-foot (365 m) dome, located in an abandoned quarry 8,000 feet (2.5 km) above sea level on the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaii's Big Island. There is little vegetation and the scientists will have no contact with the outside world, said the university, which operates the dome. Communications with a mission control team will be time-delayed to match the 20-minute travel time of radio waves passing between Earth and Mars. "Daily routines include food preparation from only shelf-stable ingredients, exercise, research and fieldwork aligned with NASA's planetary exploration expectations," the university said. The project is intended to create guidelines for future missions to Mars, some 35 million miles (56 million km) away, a long-term goal of the U.S. human space program. The NASA-funded study, known as the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (Hi-SEAS), is the fifth of its kind.

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  1. Re: This would make an awesome movie... by PoopJuggler · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    And it turns out that Trump actually *is* Adolf Hitler who used a time machine to escape Germany and traveled to the year 2145 where he transplanted his brain into a new host body and then traveled back to 2010, killed the real Donald Trump and used future cloning technology to copy his appearance, thus beginning his ultimate rise to power where he now controls the most powerful nation on Earth and has access to nuclear weapons. Man, this thing writes itself.

  2. Re:Wow. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Put a half dozen people in an old submarine, and drop it on the bottom of a lake without any fuel.

    This is a rather extreme way of dealing with the new Trump cabinet, but since we're brainstorming I'll put it on the list.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.