Simulation of the Mars mission was to show how well the team members can interact with each other.
Six volunteers spent a year in complete isolation on Hawaii, in the framework of a simulated mission to Mars, NASA organized.
From the 29th August last year the group stayed in a gated complex in the form of a dome, eating powdered cheese and canned goods. The participants in the study, sponsored by NASA, was allowed to leave home only in spacesuits. However, the greatest challenge was to maintain a favorable working atmosphere in a small team in the complete absence of privacy.
According to the head of mission Carmel Johnston, “it’s like having neighbors who are always there, and nowhere to hide.” However, the organizers of the experiment of the University of Hawaii claim that their goal was to study the human factor in long-term missions.
The study involved astrobiologist from France physicist from Germany, and pilot, an architect, a doctor and a soil scientist from the United States.
“I can share a personal impression that the mission to Mars in the near future is realistic,” said one of the participants Cyprien Verso. – I think that the technological and psychological barriers can be overcome”.
NASA plans to send a mission to Mars in 2030-ies. At the same time, the head of the company SpaceX Elon Musk plans to conquer the Red planet even sooner. Already in 2018, he is going to send a Mars spacecraft without a crew, and in the 2020s, to get people there.
