PARIS: The US space agency NASA has started its mission to simulate life on Mars. The one-year-long mission will help the agency understand what kind of difficulties astronauts can face when they are on the Red Planet.
The team of recruits has started the isolation experiment on August 28. The team will live in the dome for 365 days without food and fresh air. The team of six recruits includes four Americans, a French astrobiologist and a German physicist. The dome in Hawaii, where the team will spend a full year, is just 11 meters in diameter, while it is six-meter-tall.
According to scientists’ estimates, the first manned mission to Mars could last between one to three years. The recruits will sleep on a small sleeping cot and eat foods like canned tuna and cheese. They will have limited access to the internet. Adding to that, they will have to wear a spacesuit if they want to venture outside.
Kim Binstead, professor at University of Hawaii and principle investigator of the project, said the longer the mission becomes, the better scientists can figure out the risks during space travel. “We hope that this mission will build on our current understanding of the social and psychological factors involved in long-duration space exploration and give Nasa solid data on how best to select and support a flight crew that will work cohesively”, Binstead added.
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