WASHINGTON: Sealed inside a habitat in Texas and isolated from the outside world for over a year, Kelly Haston commanded a groundbreaking NASA simulation designed to prepare for future missions to Mars.
During this mission, Haston and her crew conducted mock “Marswalks,” tended to a vertical garden, and coped with bouts of boredom. She expressed pride in contributing to space exploration while acknowledging that the experience made her rethink the reality of life on the Red Planet.
“Going to space would be an amazing opportunity,” the 53-year-old biologist shared. “But having gone through this, it’s harder to imagine leaving your loved ones behind.”
The mission, named CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) Mission 1, aimed to study the effects of isolation on a crew’s performance and health. The experiment lasted 378 days, concluding in early July. Given that a round-trip to Mars could exceed two years, including six to nine months of transit time and the planned duration on the planet, such simulations are crucial.
For Haston, the most challenging aspect was clear: “I could have stayed in that habitat for another year and survived with all the restrictions, but the hardest part was missing your people.” Communications with the outside world were delayed by twenty minutes each way to simulate the time it takes for a radio signal to travel between Earth and Mars. Additionally, there were limitations on sending and receiving videos due to bandwidth restrictions.