- Teams of scientists have been simulating Martian living conditions on Earth
- The Hi-Seas project, funded by Nasa, sees crews live in a habitat in Hawaii
- It is intended to simulated what life on the red planet might be like
- The second mission has just finished, and the third has just begun
- First mission lasted four months, second eight months and third a year
- The habitat has space for six people and amenities include bedrooms, a bathroom, workspaces and even a dining room
- Exercise is conducted regularly but the crew only leaves for 'spacewalks'
- The habitat is 36 feet (11 meters) high to prevent claustrophobia
- It's hoped the project will provide data and information that will prove useful for a future manned mission to Mars
Welcome to your new home on Mars
Above your head, solar panels are powering the dome - shaped habitat you're standing in. The high ceilings should make you feel comfortable, and there's a 3D-printer to make new tools.
It might seem far-fetched, but that's a scenario that might not be too far in the future when the first mission to Mars goes ahead - and Nasa has been testing such a habitat recently in Hawaii.
Image Credits: www.dailymail.co.uk
Teams of scientists have been simulating Martian living conditions on Earth. The Hi-Seas project, funded by Nasa, sees crews live in a habitat in Hawaii. The habitat has space for six people and amenities include bedrooms, a bathroom, workspaces and even a dining room(shown in diagram)
The Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, or Hi-Seas, is a Nasa sponsored project to see how a crew would cope with living on Mars.
WHAT IS THE HI-SEAS MISSION?
The Hi-Seas (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simultation) mission's crews spend months 8,000 feet (2,440 meters) above sea level in a geodesic-dome habitat on the northen slope of the Mauna Loa volcano.
The volcano is a barren landscape, an abandoned quarry with little vegetation that's as similar to Mars landscape as planet Earth can get.
The crew members live under Mars-like conditions. According to Hi-Seas 'communication latencies and blackouts,in close quarters, under strict water-use rules,etc' are part of the deal.
The food study was designed to test food preparation strategies for long-termspace exploration
Hi-Seas aims to address problems that many be encountered in future space missions by simulating exploration in areas of the world similar to space environments.
The aim mission, funded by Nasa's Human Research Program, the University of Hawaii and Cornell University, is to learn about living sustainably on Mars.
The third and latest mission started on 17 October 2014, and will concludeon July 2015.
The Hi-Seas (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) mission's crews live 8,000 feet (2,440 meters) above sea level in a geodesic-dome habitat on the northern slope of the Mauna Loa volcano (shown) for four, eight and 12 months (firts , second and third mission)
There are six pie-slice-shaped bedrooms for the crewmembers to live in, all adjacent to one other (shown in diagram). This floor is above the ground level and also has a bathroom and an open balcony to below, making the habitat seem big so the crew doesn't feel trapped
Image Credits: www.dailymail.co.uk
Each room has a bed, mattress and a stool. There is space under each bed for clothes to be stored. A 3D printer is also in the habitat to enable the crew to print new tools if they need to. On a future mission to Mars,items like a 3D printer will likely be iinvaluable as resupply missions will be scarce or non - existent.
Image Credits:www.dailymail.co.uk
Pictured here is the kitchen of the Mars habitat. The crew were given access to the same sorts of supplies as would be expected on a future mission to Mars. Throughout the mission, researchers evaluted how the crewmembers cope with the conditions
[Source: www.dailymail.co.uk]
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