US space agency, Nasa, has launched the 'Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog' (Chapea) operation, which involves locking up four people in a simulated Martian habitat located in Houston. They will have to stay shut away together, without ever leaving, for exactly 378 days in the equivalent of a large 160 sq m apartment. This initiative will contribute to research into human health and performance when isolated and confined.
This unusual habitat was 3D-printed at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. It comprises four small individual dwellings in addition to a communal living area and an "outdoor space" reconstituted from red sand. Two further simulations, also lasting around one year, are scheduled to follow in the same facilities.
The four volunteers are Kelly Haston (commander), Ross Brockwell (flight engineer), Nathan Jones (medical officer) and Anca Selariu (scientific officer). During this first experiment, researchers will simulate various stressful situations that could arise during a long-distance mission, such as limited resources, equipment failures or communication delays. For the rest, the four volunteers will simulate outings away from their base, robotic operations and in-vitro cultivation.
These simulations will provide data on both the physical and cognitive performance of the volunteers, to better understand the impact of future long-duration missions to Mars on crew health. This information should help NASA to better prepare astronauts for these unprecedented missions.
It will be many years before humans set foot on the surface of Mars. In the meantime, NASA is getting ready to conquer the Moon, through the Artemis program. NASA intends to establish a long-term presence on the Moon for scientific and exploration purposes, in preparation for future missions to the Red Planet. – ETX Daily Up, July 5, 2023
