Four rooms, exercise area, etc. The house, presented to NASA on Tuesday, looks ordinary, but as of June four people will be locked in it for more than a year to try to simulate life on Mars.
The headquarters, called Mars Dune Alpha, is located at the US Space Agency Research Center in Houston, Texas.
Those who will inhabit it will help prepare a future mission to the Red Planet. By measuring their performance and cognitive abilities, NASA will better understand the “resources” that need to be made available during this ambitious flight, explained Grace Douglas, CHAPEA program manager, who is overseeing the experiment.
Mars Dune Alpha, a simulated Mars habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, is being used to prepare humans to go to Mars. See more photos: https://t.co/U5VHVqQuuO 📷 Joe Nakamura pic.twitter.com/RgRrVY6OOT
– Reuters photos (@reuterspictures) April 12, 2023
He added that this is a critical issue given the “very restrictive weight restrictions that these missions can impose”.
This 160 sqm home features a vertical area for growing vegetables, a room dedicated to medical procedures, a relaxation area or even personal workspaces.
The air chamber reproduces the Martian environment. On the red sand floor is a weather station, a brick-making apparatus, a greenhouse and a moving walkway, where supposed astronauts walk while suspended from belts.
“We can’t have them walking in circles for six hours,” says Susan Bell, program manager for NASA’s Behavioral Health and Performance Laboratory, with a smile.
According to her, this corridor will reproduce the effort required for physical activity on Mars, but also for collecting samples, information or even for constructions.
The names of the volunteers who will live in the house are not yet known, but we already know that the team will not consist of astronauts. They will regularly experience stress, with water restrictions or physical damage.
Mars is calling. ☎️
To help us prepare for missions to the Red Planet, @employee is working with partners to 3D print Mars Dune Alpha, a home for Mars simulators and a future home for Mars mission simulation crews in @employee.
Learn more: https://t.co/sizJlzHPEG pic.twitter.com/2GkbwSdbH3
– NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) October 19, 2021
This house has another peculiarity: it is the product of a 3D printer. “It’s one of the technologies that NASA is studying for the potential of building homes on other planets or the moon,” Grace Douglas noted.
The US space agency is preparing for the return trip to Mars, but the departure is not expected immediately. This flight, which will take several decades, could happen “in the late 2030s,” according to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
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