Sentinel Digital Desk
Four volunteers have emerged from NASA's simulated Mars environment. After spending over a year on a mission that never left Earth, these astronauts survived on artificial Mars.
The volunteer crew members spent over a year inside NASA's first simulated Mars habitat at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
It was created to enable scientists and researchers to predict what a true mission to the planet would be like, including all of the expected hurdles. The crew exited the artificial alien environment on Saturday at about 5 p.m., after 378 days.
On June 25, 2023, Kelly Haston, Anca Selariu, Ross Brockwell, and Nathan Jones entered the 3D-printed habitat as the first crew of the space agency's Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, or CHAPEA, project.
The first CHAPEA crew concentrated on setting conditions for future Mars operations using simulated spacewalks, called "Marswalks".
The crew even grew and harvested vegetables to supplement their provisions apart from maintaining the habitat and their equipment.
They worked through various difficulties that a real Mars crew would encounter, such as limited resources, isolation and delays in communication of up to 22 minutes with their home planet on the other side of the habitat's walls.
Mars Dune Alpha, a 3D printed building, simulated a Mars habitat to "support long duration, exploration-class space missions".
The crew on Mars Dune Alpha lived a life similar to that of individuals who would live in a future Mars surface habitat.