Real Scientists Lived on Fake Mars in a Texas Shed for a Year

Four scientists walked to Mars in June 2023 and then walked back again earlier this month. Well, They walked to the “simulated Mars habitat.” in NASAJohnson Space Center in Houston, the first of three planned space centers. “Exploring Crew Health and Analog Performance” Missions The NASA-planned CHAPEA 1 mission has ended with Kelly Huston (commander), Ross Brockwell (flight engineer), Nathan Jones (medical officer), and Anca Celario (science officer) all happy and healthy. Their mission plan The goal was to evaluate the capabilities of a crew living on the surface of Mars for a year, in a simulation, To prepare for the real thing eventually..

Are they allowed to step outside of normal Earth society for a year? And get paid for it? Sign me up!

“Congratulations to the CHAPEA 1 crew on completing a year in a simulated Mars environment,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “With the Artemis missions, we will use what we learn on and around the Moon to take the next giant step: sending the first astronauts to Mars. The CHAPEA missions are critical to developing the knowledge and tools humans will need to one day live and work on the Red Planet.”

The quartet of isolated, intelligent professionals had to live together in a 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed dwelling. The building is truly remarkable, built from concrete designed around a substrate that can be found on Mars. The 3D printer will use Martian soil to make the concrete, since shipping concrete into space would be too heavy.

Everything about the mission in Texas was designed to simulate life on Mars, including “walking on Mars,” operating robots on the surface, building and maintaining habitats, daily exercise, and even growing crops. Even communications between CHAPEA and mission control were artificially delayed by 22 minutes to replicate the distance it would have to travel between Mars and Earth.

“Having to have a 45-minute back-and-forth conversation means you really have to think ahead and formulate the communication clearly and precisely,” Silario said. “It’s actually very difficult to absorb.”

In their spare time, the crew watched TV and read books downloaded onto a flash drive with them, so they couldn’t even keep up with current popular culture. These people I haven’t heard “Brat” yet.But fortunately they managed to break out of the artificial space prison. Just in time to see “Twisters”.