鈥楳artians鈥� walk the Utah desert, paving way for life on red planet
The morning calm broke as an urgent cry for help rang from Cl茅ment Plagne鈥檚 space-suited crewmates. It was Day 3 on this simulated excursion to the red planet, and things were getting dicey.
鈥淚鈥檓 getting no air from the suit,鈥� one crewmate radioed. 鈥淚f this weren鈥檛 Earth I鈥檇 be dead right now.鈥�
鈥淲e need to head back to the Hab immediately,鈥� another instructed.
Why We Wrote This
For the space-minded, travel to Mars is the ultimate fantasy. These volunteers are harnessing their own dreams of space travel to help solve some of the logistical hurdles for all of humanity.
Inside the 鈥淗ab,鈥� a hermetically sealed habitat, Mr. Plagne and two other crew members anxiously waited for the rest of the crew to return from walking on the 鈥淢artian鈥� surface. The situation was solved eventually, but they lost time exploring the surrounding terrain.
As an appointed journalist for Crew 223, part of Mr. Plagne鈥檚 job during this two-week simulation was to these roller coaster interludes. The problems encountered at The Mars Society鈥檚 Mars Desert Research Station (MRDS) in the southern Utah desert are valuable data points for disaster prevention and response plans for real-life astronauts.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e putting yourself in a situation that was supposed to be听on Mars and your ventilation breaks听in four, five seconds,听that鈥檚 an emergency,鈥� he recalls of that day听in 2020.听
Mr. Plagne, an aerospace engineering student at the听National Higher French Institute of Aeronautics and Space in Toulouse, France, says his astronaut dream听dates back to his childhood,听inspired by the 1995 film 鈥淎pollo 13.鈥�
He is among more than 1,000 space-passionate听volunteers听who have been selected, trained, and sent to the MDRS analog sites over the past two decades.听They are part of larger worldwide efforts in which听鈥渁stronauts鈥� isolate themselves in a Mars-like environment for weeks in order to study the technological, operational, and behavioral requirements for a human mission to Mars.听
The aim is at once simple and grand: to forward human understanding, which could ultimately help us reach other planets 鈥� and perhaps have spinoff benefits for solving problems like climate change here on Earth.
鈥淲e aren鈥檛 leaving Earth to leave Earth problems behind,鈥� says MDRS director Shannon Rupert. 鈥淕oing to Mars enables us to fix Earth鈥檚 problems and makes us look toward the future, not only on Mars, but here 鈥� what do we want Earth to look like when we鈥檙e on Mars?鈥�
Around the world, run by science organizations simulate operations on future Mars and lunar missions.听Participants study the habitats鈥� safety and ability to听sustain听life, as well as crew psychology 鈥撎齠or听anywhere from a few weeks to up to a year.
In Utah, for example, teams听of six to seven crew members share the group-living habitats, rely on solar-powered energy, eat prepackaged frozen food, grow crops and vegetables, run extravehicular activity听missions to study rocks and collect data, and track water usage.听
The tests of a Martian lifestyle听
Dr. Rupert, who first joined the MDRS analog program in the early 2000s and became its program director in 2009, pinpoints the shift in public interest on the mission to Mars to the 2015 film 鈥淭he Martian鈥� starring Matt Damon. 鈥淎ll of a sudden space became exciting听... where before you had to really earn the respect of a smaller community,鈥� she says.听
For听Israeli data scientist Alon Tenzer,听a听passion for space drove him to join the AMADEE-20, Austrian Space Forum鈥檚 four-week analog mission in partnership with the Israel Space Agency at the test site in the Negev desert听in October 2021. First selected as an analog astronaut in 2019, he traveled from Singapore to Europe on five separate occasions that required time away from his family and work to participate in monthslong intensive physical training,听self-directed learning,听and dress rehearsals before heading to the Mars-like mission.
鈥淧utting on a suit is an activity in itself,鈥� Mr. Tenzer recalls of the four hours it took to learn how to get dressed in their protective gear.
While living in the Mars-like environment, he found the simulated communication delays听between Earth and 鈥淢ars鈥� challenging, where 鈥渢here鈥檚 no live calls or video chat [with family members],鈥� says Mr. Tenzer. 鈥淎t that time, my twins were 6 months old. I wasn鈥檛 able to see them and the changes that happened to them or just talk to them, and it鈥檚 hard,鈥� he says.听
Long-duration missions can set further challenges, says听, a physicist and engineer who leads the Moon and Mars Base Analog project at University of Bremen in Germany. Her 12-month isolation experience听about six years ago as part of a crew at the Hawai鈥檌 Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) informs her work on the analog base.
While finding 鈥渟weet spots鈥� living in a group setting during the first two quarters of the NASA-sponsored experiment,听she听鈥嬧�媜bserved signs of a 鈥渢hird-quarter syndrome鈥� in her group听during the final months of their mission as living in an isolated environment took its toll.听
鈥淭here鈥檚 this classic example of someone making chewing noises when they鈥檙e eating food. If you hear it once, you鈥檙e like, 鈥業t鈥檚 annoying, but I don鈥檛 care,鈥欌�澨齭ays Dr. Heinicke. 鈥淏ut if you鈥檙e on a long-duration mission and you hear this every mealtime every single day for weeks or months, at some point, it just drives you nuts.鈥澨�
But those kinds of听stressors can also be the catalyst to find solutions.听
鈥淚n our case, at an event, we had communication issues and we said, 鈥極K we need to sort this out. We need to find a solution.鈥� And that was what helped us carry on to the third quarter,鈥� she adds.
Tackling environmental challenges
With limited water and energy supply, Dr. Heinicke says her crew created a competition to see who could take the shortest showers. One crew member got it down to 23 seconds.听
鈥淥ne of the takeaways [of these missions] is that while you鈥檙e simulating life on Mars, you鈥檙e also realizing听how much comfort ... we have in daily life on Earth and how lucky we have to have all the resources,鈥� says Mr. Plagne, who notices himself听being听鈥渕ore mindful鈥� about saving water and conserving energy after his missions.听
, chemical engineer and principal investigator at NASA Kennedy Space Center who studies waste conversion and resource utilization, thinks analog mission experiments in trash management and food packaging can听inform the logistics听of future space missions.听
During her four-month analog mission at HI-SEAS, Dr. Meier and her crew had tried to separate their trash out for recycling, something the International Space Station currently does not do. They also analyzed what kind of packaging is really necessary to preserve food.
鈥淔or long-duration missions, you can have bulk packaging and don鈥檛 need all this individually wrapped to keep it shelf stable. That can significantly reduce the amount of plastic and radiation shielding that you have on this food,鈥� she adds.听
鈥淓very person is a dreamer鈥�
Coming back from the Mars analog mission, Dr. Heinicke 鈥嬧�媓as been working on sustainable habitat technologies that won鈥檛 interfere with the Martian ecosystem, such as airlocks, one of the main sources of potential contamination. 鈥淲e have to make sure that the airlock is not this wide-open gate where microbes can lead into the Martian environment,鈥� she says.听
This past January, Mr. Plagne returned to the Utah site for a three-week simulation, this time as a commander. Crew 240 included five other participants with backgrounds in engineering, food safety, biology, and botany听鈥� all dedicated to the idea of helping future astronauts safely reach Mars and achieve self-reliance. He鈥檚 also scheduled for an internship at the European Space Agency. He says he still keeps in touch with his Crew 223 team two years after the mission.听
鈥淚 like to think every person is a dreamer. Our dream is to work so that, someday, humanity will flourish somewhere else, away from its cradle,鈥� Mr. Plagne in Crew 223 mission鈥檚 journal on March 10, 2020.听
No one anticipated the day after Mr. Plagne wrote those words that the World Health Organization would declare a global pandemic, ushering in unprecedented uncertainty and changes. But if there is anything these 鈥淢artians鈥� learned living in isolation on Earth, it was the power of dreams, hope, collaboration, and persistence to carry them through the unknown.
Editor's note: Since participants at the Mars analog sites are often scientists with advanced degrees and training, this article has been updated to remove references to the phrase citizen science.听
