Four Volunteers Complete Over-a-Year Simulation of Mars Mission in NASA Capsule
TapTechNews July 7th news, after more than a year of confined living, a crew of four volunteers finally walked out of the capsule that NASA simulates the Martian environment and returned to normal life.
Nathan Jones, Anka Cerariu, Kelly Haston and Ross Brockwell entered this capsule with an area of 1700 square feet (TapTechNews note: about 157.9 square meters) on June 25, 2023. The project is called Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA), aiming to simulate the life, work and mental state of astronauts during a Mars mission.
According to TapTechNews, these four volunteers carried out extravehicular activity simulations, scientific experiments and other tasks that may be performed on the Martian surface in the simulation capsule. On Saturday, they walked out of the 3D-printed capsule at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Project member Grace Douglas said before the start of the project, This simulation will allow us to collect cognitive and physical performance data to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of long-term Mars missions on astronaut health and performance. These information will ultimately help NASA make informed decisions and design and plan successful manned Mars landing missions.
The simulation capsule reproduces the Martian environment as much as possible, including factors such as communication delay, resource limitations and isolation from the world. During the 378-day simulation process, the CHAPEA project team did not report any major problems regarding the physical or mental aspects of the volunteers.
NASA stated that the data and observations collected in the project will provide important support for future moon landing and even more far-reaching space exploration missions. NASA is currently preparing for a long-term stay on the moon through the Artemis Program, which may become a stepping stone for human exploration of the fourth planet in the solar system, Mars.
Scientists are deepening their understanding of this red planet through a series of ongoing Mars exploration missions. The goal of human landing on Mars is set around 2040. Mars is also known as the Red Planet b ecause of the iron oxide on its surface. Since the average distance between Mars and the earth is about 140 million miles, to carry out a manned landing on Mars and stay for a period of time, the entire journey may take several years.
The second simulation mission of the CHAPEA project is expected to begin in the first half of 2025.