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

Posted by BeauHD on from the study-learn-and-repeat dept.

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.

3 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Wow. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.
    1. Re:Wow. by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Folks, we need to find a spot that most closely simulates the brutal conditions on Mars. Or we could go to Hawaii. Let's see a show of hands in favor of Hawaii.

    2. Re:Wow. by ElizabethGreene · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is different from a submarine in some important ways. On a Submarine, you have many dozens of people to interact with. You are physically confined, but you have some social variety. Your mission is dangerous, but you have the comfort of knowing that it's been done before. Tours are, IIRC, 6 months long.

      A Mars expedition is different. You're going to train with these people continuously for at least 5 years. During that time you'll constantly be on your best going-to-church-with-grandma behavior and never speak up about grievances because your actions are being monitored ad nauseum by a legion of shrinks. Then you finally get the mission go and you spend (optimistically) 3 months in a space the size of a minivan. Remember your last trip in a minivan? Imagine being trapped in it for 3 months with 5 other people while NASA is scheduling your day down to 15 minute increments.

      If a thousand things you can't control happen to go right then you land on Mars. EVA suits on, and you finally escape that (obscenity laden) capsule. You see a horizon for the first time in what feels like forever. Then you work your ass off for a month and have to climb back in that (expletive) minivan for a risk-laden trip back home that takes even longer than the trip to get there. ... and during the entire trip you don't have a single shower.

      It's not "exactly" like life on a submarine, is it?