The Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation or HI-SEAS is geared up for its fifth "mock" Mars mission in Hawaii.
Reports suggest that the duration of the mock mission will stretch to eight months. A crew of six members who will be participating in this extra-terrestrial exercise have already been selected.
This experiment is aimed at understanding the human behavior and performance in unearth-like conditions. The journey will begin on Jan. 19 at 3:30 p.m. Of course, the crew cannot enjoy the bliss of Hawaiian vacation, but instead, they will go through daily psychological tests to make them familiar with the challenges they have to face on the Red Planet.
"Since 2012, HI-SEAS has been contributing to NASA's plans for long-duration space exploration," says Kim Binsted, HI-SEAS's principal investigator.
Binsted also added that he feels proud how this collaboration is engaged in reducing the obstacles that stand in the way of human trips to the Red Planet.
Drills In The Mission
Just like the earlier stints, the crew members will stay in a geodesic dome situated in the dry grounds of the Mauna Loa volcano. The arid dusty ground resembles the dry surface of the Red Planet.
The crew members will have to go through an already-established schedule that will include geological field work and life system management.
However, the crew will not be completely isolated, as they will have ample provision to communicate with the outside world. However, to test the self-sufficiency, the communication will be delayed by 20 minutes between the crew and the mission control. The crew has been instructed to always wear their spacesuits when working outside the dome.
The astronauts are required to make their food from shelf-stable components just like the diet astronauts take during space travel. All these exercises are aligned with NASA's planetary exploration expectations.
Reports suggest that the crew members will indulge in eight primary and three opportunistic research studies. NASA's sponsored primary research will witness scientists from across United States and Europe, who are leaders in their respective fields, participating.
This will include "a shared social behavioral task for team building, continuous monitoring of face-to-face interactions with sociometric badges, a virtual reality team-based collaborative exercise to predict individual and team behavioral health and performance and multiple stress, cognitive countermeasure and monitoring studies."
The astronauts taking part in the mission are Ansley Barnard, Samuel Payler, Laura Lark, Joshua Ehrlich, James Bevington, and Brian Ramos.
The last mock Mars Mission had a duration of 12 months and ended on August 2016.
