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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.
I'm truly impressed by how far some Americans are willing to go to escape a Trump presidency. ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
So they're simulating the worst case scenario of 22 light minutes and rounding down to 20. That's not unreasonable.
Two scientists enter, five scientists leave.
The gravity on Mars s 38% less than Earth.
Of course, you still have to take into account weightlessness on the trip to Mars but I think the iInternational Space Station has that covered. Considering that once you leave Earth magnetic field you are going to get allot of radiation from the sun so you need protection there. When you get to Mars the only safe place is underground or in radiation proof pressurized housing since the atmospheric pressure on Mars is about 0.6% of Earth 's at sea level.
A better test would be to go back to the moon and run your tests there and it would be a lot safer for the prospective astronauts but that does not have the "wow" factor.
There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
Six people are locked in a closet. A few dozen other researchers are spending 8 months hanging out on the beach in Hawaii.
Worst case would be if they had iPhones with Verizon service.
Have gnu, will travel.
Somebody tries to dodge the "unwanted pregnancy" thing, i guess ;-)