Six scientists who spent a year in near isolation to simulate life on Mars finally came out of their dome in Hawaii on Sunday. The group spent 12 months in a dome on Mauna Loa volcano , 8,500 feet above sea level.
They could go outside only if they wore spacesuits, to explore a barren landscape as similar to Mars’ environment as planet Earth can get.
As the simulation ended on Sunday, the crew came out and announced the simulation had shown a mission to Mars could succeed in the near future.
‘I can give you my personal impression which is that a mission to Mars in the close future is realistic. I think the technological and psychological obstacles can be overcome,’ crew member Cyprien Verseux, from France, said.
The Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) replicated living conditions on Mars to address problems that may arise in future space missions.
Scientists in the Hawaii simulation managed limited resources while conducting research and working to avoid personal conflicts.
They managed to find their own water in a dry climate, according to participant Christiane Heinicke, from Germany.
‘Showing that it works, you can actually get water from the ground that is seemingly dry. It would work on Mars and the implication is that you would be able to get water on Mars from this little greenhouse construct,’ she said.
The researchers are now looking forward to getting in the ocean and eating fresh produce, as well as other foods that weren’t available in the dome.
The simulation, funded by NASA and run through the University of Hawaii. was the second-longest of its kind after a mission that lasted 520 days in Russia.
Tristan Bassingthwaighte, a doctor of architecture candidate at University of Hawaii, served as the crew’s architect.
‘The UH research going on up here is just super vital when it comes to picking crews, figuring out how people are going to actually work on different kinds of missions, and sort of the human factors element of space travel, colonization, whatever it is you are actually looking at,’ Bassingthwaighte said.
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