The four occupants of the Mars Dune Alpha will spend an entire year exploring the challenges of life on Mars
On July 25, a group of Americans began a somewhat special adventure: they are preparing to spend an entire year in a Martian base – but without leaving Earth for all that. They are now locked up in NASA’s famous Johnson Space Center in Houston, where they will be constantly monitored by a team of researchers who study the technical and psychological issues and life on the Red Planet.
According to CollectSpace, the four volunteers are not strictly speaking astronauts. None of them have ever traveled to space. On the other hand, they were all subjected to the same selection protocol as NASA professionals.
A quartet of quasi-astronauts
Like the latter, the candidates must all have followed a scientific course or an engineering course, with bonus points for pilots and the military. They also had to submit to a battery of very demanding physical and psychological tests.
At the end of the process, NASA selected a crew of four quasi-astronauts. The first is Kelly Haston, a biology researcher who inherited the position of mission commander. Next is Ross Brockwell, a structural engineer who officiates as a flight engineer. Nathan Jones, a former emergency physician, was selected as the medical officer. The last place is occupied by Anca Selariu, a structural biologist who will be responsible for the scientific part.
Psychology at the heart of the experience
The quartet has taken up residence inside Mars Dune Alpha (MDA). It is a 3D printed structure of approximately 150 m² whose objective is to simulate the environment that future Martian colonists will face.
However, because of the relatively long travel times, it is virtually impossible to envisage a short mission to Mars. The first challenge of this kind of project is therefore to support the insulation in a confined space over an extended period. And to best reproduce the conditions of a real mission, the members of this crew will have to give of themselves. They’re going to be locked up in the MDA for an entire year. That means they won’t see the sky again until June 2024.
This will allow researchers to study several aspects of such a mission. In the first place, it will be necessary to take into account the psychological aspect of this isolation. The Covid-19 pandemic has already proven that being cut off from the world can be difficult to bear, and of course it will be even more so for astronauts exiled 350 million kilometers from Earth.
They will therefore have to learn to maintain a healthy state of mind throughout the experience; even if Hollywood would probably rub the hands of it, it would be unfortunate if a future Mars expedition ended in a bloodbath behind closed doors. Psychologists will follow their every move. Their conclusions will make it possible to imagine new arrangements to make the stay as tolerable as possible.
A very busy schedule
And isolation is not the only constraint that NASA will try to reproduce. Even if it will be monitored, in practice, the crew will be more or less left to their own devices, as during a real Martian mission. NASA will only open the capsule prematurely in the event of an absolute emergency.
However, living independently in this way involves a large number of relatively time-consuming chores. For example, they will have to watch over plant cultures, prepare and package food, or even ensure the maintenance of all equipment – and all this in addition to their scientific activities.
They will also have to devote considerable time to‘physical exercise. This is fundamental to offset the effects of Martian gravity. Since the latter is less intense than that of the earth, future settlers risk developing muscular atrophy with serious consequences, and only physical activity can remedy this. Certainly, NASA will not be able to reproduce the Martian gravity inside the MDA; but it is important to integrate this part of the schedule into the simulations so that they are as representative as possible.
The four occupants must take care to maintain irreproachable personal hygiene and to preserve an immaculate habitat. It’s obviously fundamental in any work environment, but here it’s not just about avoiding foul smells. In such an enclosed space, the slightest germ can quickly cause big problems. Must therefore actively fight against the proliferation of the slightest micro-organismwhich implies being particularly meticulous during maintenance.
Bad surprises for a good cause
Beyond these routine chores, NASA also has a few surprises in store for the four volunteers. According to CollectSpace, the project managers will take advantage of this long role-playing game to test certain problematic scenarios.
During their stay, the “astronauts” will regularly find themselves confronted with unexpected problems. NASA did not specify what it was. But it could be serious concerns that require a quick and coordinated response. For example, the agency could impose on them a breakdown of the life support system, which notably manages the supply of water and oxygen.
The objective is not to torture the occupants. During the first real colonization missions, it is almost unthinkable that everything will go as planned. There will inevitably be some problems which will put a spoke in the wheels of the crew. It is therefore essential to prepare for it in advance to prevent the survival of astronauts from depending on a flash of genius à la MacGyver. By observing how volunteers react to these stressors, NASA will be able to establish clear procedures that will prevent settlers from having to improvise.
As a reminder, this is not the first time that a space agency has organized an experiment of this type. The best-known example is certainly that of the Mars500 program, carried out jointly by the ESA, Russia and China between 2007 and 2011. But at a time when the concept of interplanetary colonization is becoming more and more tangible, it is important to make a new inventory. It will therefore be very interesting to look at the conclusions of this experiment once the crew has emerged from the MDA, in the summer of 2024.
