Four people will act as crew on the simulated journey to Mars’ moon Phobos. Nasa has now locked them in, and they will not be released in 45 days.
Before manned space travel as far away as Mars, one must know how humans handle living conditions on board as well as situations that have arisen. For an upcoming simulated mission, Nasa has selected Mars’ largest moon, Phobos – a destination with very specific conditions.
In a press release writes Nasa that they have picked out a man and the three women who will act as crew on the fake trip. On October 1, they were locked in the grounded “vehicle” that Nasa calls HERA – Human Exploration Research Analog.
As the simulation approaches Phobos, they have to get used to an increasing delay in communication. At most, it is five minutes in each direction, and the crew must find methods to maintain a stable communication.
The HERA facility is located at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and Nasa has used the rig during a long series of previous tests. Now the team will spend 45 days behind bars before they are released on November 15. But who are the people who are willing to isolate themselves for such a long time?
The four participants:
Engineer Monique Garcia works with human factors and is the system administrator for the Miter Corporation, which is developing a user interface for a telescopic system that will be part of NASA’s Deep Space Network.
Dr. Lauren Cornell has a master’s degree in biomedical technology and a bachelor’s degree in genetic engineering. She also researches the process of translating research results into innovations that can reach the public.
The whole group in the picture. Nasa has used HERA – Human Exploration Research Analog – for a wide range of tests. Photo: Nasa
Madelyne Willi’s academic field is microbiological ecology. Her latest research was about the ecology at the poles, where she looked at how microorganisms can survive the cold.
Chris Roberts is a project engineer at Cold Stowage, NASA’s team backing the ISS program, with responsibility for hardware integration.
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