In what could be the plot of a “Saturday Night Live” sketch, NASA has locked four volunteers into a chamber that mimics the conditions of Mars as the space agency prepares to inevitably venture to the planet.
The volunteers will be spending the next 378 days inside the Mars simulation as NASA watches how they face harsh and realistic challenges in the tight quarters.
NASA shared that those participating include research scientist Kelly Haston, structural engineer Ross Brockwell, emergency medicine physician Nathan Jones and US Navy microbiologist Anca Selariu.
The four new Martians were locked into the chamber at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on Sunday. The study is only the first of a three-year-long simulation study that NASA is conducting.
Grace Douglas, the mission’s principal investigator at NASA, shared in a press briefing that the study will “help enable us to send humans to Mars and bring them home safely.”
The simulation the volunteers will live in is a 3D-printed, 1,700-square-foot facility that NASA calls the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog. This will be the longest analog mission in the agency’s history.
Inside the facility, the crew will have a kitchen, private quarters, and two bathrooms, with medical, work, and recreation areas, NASA shared.
While inside the simulation, they will also complete “mission activities,” like collecting geological samples, exercising, and practicing personal hygiene and health care. They will also have minimal contact with their family and loved ones, just like on a real mission to Mars.
The facility will also include “environmental stressors” that could occur on Mars, like limited resources and equipment failures. However, the only thing that won’t be similar is the gravity on Mars, which is 38% of Earth’s.
Haston has been named the commander of the mission, and she expressed her admiration for being a part of the study, saying that it “exemplifies some of the best qualities of humankind.”
Now, the four volunteers have been locked in and will remain there until July 7, 2024.
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