HOUSTON – A crew of four that entered an isolated NASA-built environment in June 2023 to simulate life on Mars ended its year-long mission on Saturday.
The agency’s first Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog mission, or CHAPEA Mission 1, began when volunteers Nathan Jones, Anca Selariu, Kelly Haston and Ross Brockwell entered the ground-based habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on June 25 last year.
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In April, as the crew reached the 300-day mark in their enclosure, they had already engaged in multiple simulated “Marswalks,” grew and harvested salad crops to occasionally supplement shelf-stable food and took part in habitat and equipment maintenence, according to NASA.
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Saturday’s egress ended the first of three planned CHAPEA missions, with the next one scheduled to begin in spring 2025, though applications for it have already closed.
The 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed enclosure — named “Mars Dune Alpha” — simulates the challenges of a mission on Mars, including resource limitations, equipment failures, communication delays and other environmental stressors, according to NASA.
As NASA works to establish a long-term presence for scientific discovery and exploration on the Moon through the Artemis campaign, CHAPEA missions provide important scientific data to validate systems and develop solutions for future missions to the Red Planet. With the first CHAPEA crew more than halfway through their yearlong mission, NASA is using research gained through the simulated missions to help inform crew health and performance support during Mars expeditions.
NASA | Martians Wanted: NASA Opens Call for Simulated Yearlong Mars Mission | Feb. 16, 2024 (excerpt)
ClickOrlando will stream Saturday’s event live at the top of this story.
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