Scientists Simulate Life on Mars in a Hawaii Dome

STATES CHRONICLE – Researchers from NASA have found a way to simulate life on Mars in a Hawaii dome. They are bound to enter an isolated geodesic dome in Hawaii, on a remote volcano, to analyze how the human behavior may change during long-term space journeys, including a planned mission to Mars. This group of scientists will enter the isolated Hawaii dome on January 26 on the Big Island’s Mauna Loa volcano, planning to live there for eight months.

The team of scientists will not be able to contact anyone from the outside world, working with 20-minute delay transmissions. This represents the time it would take an email to reach our planet from Mars. The newly developed study is bound to examine the psychological boundaries associated with the idea of living in isolation, confining to certain conditions for an extended time.

This project was developed to help the US space agency to launch a rocket with astronauts bound to deploy long space journeys, including the one planned for 2030, traveling to Mars. Kim Binstead, the principal investigator and a science professor at the University of Hawaii, stated that they hope to reveal which criteria they should have when selecting their astronauts, finding out how they should make up their crew and how they need to support it during long-term space missions.

She also claimed that the timeline from NASA is a realistic one unless the US space agency decides to do something different with the new administration. The transition team of the new president did not yet respond to the email NASA has sent them explaining their plan. James Bevington will be the mission commander of the crew. He is a freelance space scientist who is also a visiting researcher at the International Space University.

The crew consists of engineers, a biomedical expert, a doctoral candidate and a computer scientist. These people were selected from seven hundred applicants who went through personality and cognitive tests and also extensive interviews. Bevington claimed that his biggest concern is that his crew may turn into the Biosphere 2 one.

Biosphere 2 was a temporary greenhouse-like location in Arizona from the 1990s. It contained a lot of distinct natural ecosystems and crew. The project was meant to establish what people would need if they were to live on other planets. The experiment was unsuccessful due to failure in maintaining safe levels of carbon dioxide.

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