Sorry for the delay: after decades of more or less slow "chase", man is about to put his feet back on the Moon, and then move (hopefully in less time) to the red planet. But what will it be like to live on Mars? NASA offers us a glimpse into the future thanks to Mars Dune Alpha, a 3D printed habitat that simulates Martian conditions.
See you in a year
The habitat is located at NASA's research center in Houston, Texas. Four volunteers will live in this 160-square-meter space for a year, while a team of scientists monitor their physical and mental health to better understand the challenges of prolonged isolation.
Mars Dune Alpha was created for three experiments called PLATE, an acronym that stands for Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog. Grace Douglas, the researcher responsible for the project, explains that the data collected from the "Martian" habitat will be invaluable. They will help NASA understand how to manage resources during missions on the red planet: one of the biggest challenges, in fact, is represented by the severe weight limitations which requires maximum selectivity on the materials to be brought on the mission.
Let's take a look at the habitat of “Mars”
Imagine it's a house with four rooms, a gym and a lot of red sand. Inside Mars Dune Alpha, volunteers will have two bathrooms, a vertical farm for growing salad, a room for medical care, a relaxation area and several workstations.
There is also an "external" habitat that reproduces the Martian environment, with equipment that astronauts can use: a weather station, a brick-making machine and a small greenhouse.
Red earth
We still don't know the names of the four volunteers of the first experiment, NASA is still proceeding with the selection (with particular emphasis on backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
Anyway, thanks to Mars Dune Alpha and the CHAPEA experiments, NASA is increasingly sharpening its technical "weapons". The ground (or rather, the red sand) for future human missions is almost ready.
