For more than a year, four crew members participating in NASA’s Mars Dune Alpha simulated experience communicated, ate, slept and explored as if they were stationed more than 200 million miles away on the Red Planet.
The mission, which marked the first completed part of three planned NASA Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) programs, lasted 378 days and began on June 25, 2023.
Kelly Haston, Anca Selariu, Ross Brockwell and Nathan Jones were greeted with applause over the weekend when they emerged from a 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed habitat at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
“Hello. It’s actually so wonderful to be able to greet you all,” CHAPEA Commander Haston said during a press conference as she emerged from her post.
The program was created to research how crew members would respond to the conditions and constraints of a one-year mission, with NASA saying they could send astronauts to Mars as early as the 1930s.
“Our target is Mars,” Stephen Koerner, deputy director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, said during a press conference Saturday. “As global interests and capabilities in space exploration continue to expand, America is poised to lead,” he said, adding, “The completion of the CHAPEA-1 mission is an important step toward that goal.”
Daily crew activities during the mission included simulated spacewalks, robotic operations, habitat maintenance, exercise, and crop growth.
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The CHAPEA crew simulated a realistic Mars communications delay of up to 22 minutes one way, according to NASA, which includes messages with mission control and communication with the crew’s friends and family outside the mission.
There were no fresh food deliveries, so team members were limited to packaged foods that are shelf-stable and the ability to grow some crops during the mission.
The crop growth system inside the CHAPEA habitat is similar to systems used for home gardening and can support the growth of leafy crops, herbs and small fruits, according to NASA.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to live the idea that we have to use resources faster than they can be replenished and produce waste faster than it can be processed back into resources,” crew member Brockwell said during a press conference.
Mars Dune Alpha offered four separate sleeping quarters for crew members totaling 1,700 square feet, according to NASA. The site included a bathroom and shower, kitchen and living room with table and furniture, and dedicated fitness and laundry facilities.
Suzanne Bell, head of the Behavioral Health and Performance Laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, spoke to ABC News in February as the agency ramped up for its second mission.
“We’re mimicking what we expect from a mission to the surface of Martian habitats,” Bell said. “We’re collecting all kinds of data to learn how people can survive and thrive in these circumstances.”
The next CHAPEA mission is planned for spring 2025; the third should start in 2026.
Bell said the three missions are designed to eliminate “specific crew or individual anomalies.”
“We’re seeing how we can best support people in terms of their human health. We’re starting to see trends that we can interpret to best support the people of the future,” Bell explained.
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To qualify for the program, volunteers must be healthy, non-smokers, US citizens or permanent residents between the ages of 30 and 55, and proficient in English.
Crew members must have a master’s degree with a STEM qualification and industry experience or a minimum of 1,000 hours of aircraft piloting or required military experience.
“I’ve been asked many times: Why the obsession with Mars? Why go to Mars?” a Selarius crew member said after the mission ended. “Because it’s possible,” Selariu continued, adding, “Because the universe can unite and bring out the best in us. Because it’s the one defining step Earthlings will take to light the way into the centuries to come.”
NASA’s Mars Simulator crew emerges after 378 days: What did they learn? originally appeared on abcnews.go.com