Scientists emerge from year-long Mars simulation in Hawaii

A not-exactly interstellar but still highly important experiment started nearly 365 days ago is coming to a close today—and those involved have a lot to say about it.

Going to Mars will not be an easy process for future astronauts—and to gain a better insight into how this would take its toll on humans, a team of six international scientists spent a year on a simulated version of Mars—an isolated habitat on top Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. This was the longest space travel simulation ever carried out in the U.S.

And, according to The Huffington Post, it was definitely a challenge for the group. As Sheyna Gifford, chief medical and safety officer of the fourth Hawaii Space Exploration and Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS), told the Post, one of the greatest hardships was her “sense of helplessness”—like when learning about the flooding in Louisiana or her grandmother’s sudden and unexpected death.

“I said goodbye to my grandmother over a delayed video message,” she said. “That’s not something any of us ever want to do. So simply not being on Earth, I think everyone would agree, is the most challenging part of space.”

Plus, communications from the simulation could only come from email or voice recording, and everything was set on a 20-minute delay to imitate the delay real-life Martians will face; venturing outside their 1,000-square foot habitat was limited to the area of the simulation, and required one to be dressed in a full spacesuit.

A Long and Lonely Experiment

Needless to say, even being with six other people, it was often a lonely time.

“We changed everything about our lives and limited ourselves to only communicating by email,” said Crew Commander Carmel Johnston. “If anyone didn’t want to hop on that wagon, we just didn’t hear from them this year. It can be pretty disheartening to feel like you are missing out on everything happening at home.”

Simultaneously, the group sometimes just wanted some alone time, which is a bit of a challenge in such a confined space.

“A person can be totally cool one minute and severely annoying the next,” Tristan Bassingthwaighte, the crew architect, told the Post. “The little things people do that you’d never notice in real life can make you think about tripping them on the stairs here.”

When all was said and done, none of the crew ever felt like giving up and returning to normal life; the crew had a lot to keep them occupied, including daily scientific research, geological fieldwork, testing equipment, cooking, and exercising. Many crew members also continued with their passions; Bassingthwaighte has been working on a PhD in architecture while learning how to cook, and Gifford has been working as a journalist.

And while this all may seem perhaps tedious, it was extremely important.

“With all the good and the bad comes lessons that you can’t learn unless you are in isolation,” said Johnston. “Every success or failure is still data and an outcome that can be used to improve the lives of astronauts and Martians.”

To this end, NASA has tracked the scientists using cameras, body movement trackers, and electronic surveys, in order to study the cognitive, social, and emotional effects of the experiment. With luck, this will create a better understanding of just what it takes to survive an extended trip to Mars—one people aren’t likely to return from.

But for now, the Hawaiian team gets to go home and do everything they missed, from hugging those they love to something as small as being able to look out your own window.

“I mean holy crap! A whole window that belongs just to me?” Bassingthwaighte told the Post. “I don’t even know what to do with that, we’ve all been sharing a window the size of a medium pizza for the last year.”

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Image credit: Christiane Heinicke/Hi-Seas

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