On June 25, 2023, a crew of four volunteers entered a simulated Martian habitat, from which they will not emerge for over a year.
Their mission: to learn more about the logistics – and the human psychology – of living long-term on another planet, without ever leaving the ground. and is the first of three planned simulations between now and 2026, each of which will teach scientists progressively more about what it takes for long-duration human spaceflight to succeed.Dune Alpha, is a 1700 square-foot 3D-printed living space, in which the crew will live, work, exercise, sleep, and perform experiments.
The four-member crew has a stellar collective CV, including Kelly Haston , Ross Brockwell , Nathan Jones , and Anca Selariu . They had to pass the same testing as astronaut candidates do before being approved for a mission. The crew will also follow a diet of freeze-dried foods, similar to what Martian astronauts will have to eat, and keep a schedule of activities similar to a real mission.
Even the habitat itself is designed with space missions in mind. Bringing everything you need to Mars from Earth is cost prohibitive, so their habitat was 3D printed to test out in-situ resource utilization technologies.
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