The Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation program, also known as HI-SEAS, is now underway, after six residents stepped inside its dome on October 15. Three men and three women are taking part in the experiment, which will test the ability of a small number of people to live together in close quarters. This study will help mission engineers plan for human missions to Mars, as journeys to the Red Planet will last for months. This experiment will keep participants isolated from the outside world for eight months, as psychologists study their behavior and mental conditions.
The HI-SEAS dome is 36 feet in diameter, and has two stories of living spaces for residents. A working area, kitchen, dining room, lavatory and a storage area. Six small bedrooms are located upstairs, as well as a second washroom. A stationary bicycle and treadmill are available for participants to exercise. The dome was designed to allow residents about the same amount of space as would be afforded on a Mars colony.
"People on these sorts of missions can be prone to depression, largely due to the isolation. It is difficult communicating with the people you love back home due to the time delay. There are feelings of frustration with mission support. There is the difficulty of living in close quarters with people of different personalities. All of those factors can influence someone's feelings of futility and depression," Martha Lenio, the first woman to lead a Mars simulation, and the third female to head any NASA mission, said.
Participants in the latest study will not be able to use telephones, but will be permitted to email family and friends. Each piece of communication, in and out of the dome, will be delayed by 20 minutes, in order to simulate the great distance to Mars.
Along with Lenio, the crew of HI-SEAS Mission 3 consists of Allen Mirkadyrov, Neil Scheibelhut, Zak Wilson, Sophie Milam and Jocelyn Dunn. The dome is located on the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii.
"It lies next to an escarpment formed from a string of cinder cones dotting a collapsed lava tube. The site contains little vegetation, no rare, threatened or endangered species, and no archaeological sites or cultural practices," HI-SEAS managers wrote on their Web site.
This NASA mission on Earth is the longest Mars simulation to date, and is the second in a series of three trials. The last experiment, HI-SEAS 2, ended on July 25, 2014 after four months of simulated exploration of the "Martian" environment.
"As an individual, not feeling the sunlight on my skin for eight months, I think that's going to be the most difficult thing for me psychologically," Lenio, the 34-year-old mission leader from Canada, stated in a interview with National Geographic.
