By: Avery Lin

On June 25, 2023, four Americans were chosen from 4,000 applicants. They set out for a 378-day stay inside the Johnson Space Center. The Johnson Space Center is located in Houston, Texas and is NASA’s center for human spaceflight.

The mission is called CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog). NASA has created these tests to test the challenges and hardships of going to Mars. However, the volunteers are not actually going to Mars. They are just staying inside an isolated 1,700 square-foot, 3-D printed house. The area includes private sleeping quarters for the crew, a kitchen, and two bathrooms.

During this experiment, the crew will face the challenges of living in space. They will plant plants and learn to deal with equipment failure and medical emergencies.

During this fake mission, each participant has a specific job, not unlike a real mission. Kelly Haston is the mission commander. She is responsible for the vehicle, the mission’s success, and the crew’s safety. Ross Brockwell is the flight engineer, Nathan Jones is the medical officer, and Anca Selariu is the science officer.

“The simulation will allow us to collect cognitive and physical performance data to give us more insight into the potential impacts of long-duration missions to Mars on crew health and performance,” said CHAPEA’s principal investigator, Grace Douglas. “Ultimately, this information will help NASA make informed decisions to design and plan for a successful human mission to Mars.”

Scientists are trying to reduce as many risks as possible before actually going into space. But although these experiments may reduce risk, there will always be problems.

Sources: https://www.dogonews.com/2023/8/9/four-astronauts-embark-on-a-mock-mission-to-mars