With each new day, humanity learns a little more about the universe. Perhaps it will one day be possible (and necessary) to relocate a portion of humanity to Mars. NASA is currently gaining new insights through an experiment about what life on the red planet might look like.
What kind of experiment is this? NASA has created a 3D-printed habitat in which the test subjects were isolated from the outside world. The goal of the CHAPEA mission (Crew Health and Performance Exploration) was to gather information on the potential impacts of long-term missions on Mars.
A cost-effective, semi-liquid concrete mix called Lavacrete was used for the 157 square meter space.
Four volunteers signed up for the experiment, who had to comply with the following conditions:
- The experiment started in July 2023 and lasted for 378 days.
- The subjects had to grow their own food.
- They also had to work on simulated challenges, such as maintaining their own equipment.
- They lived with certain delays in communication to simulate conditions on Mars.
In a NASA podcast, the volunteers revealed that they not only spent time together while working. The crew also started joint activities in the evenings.
Test subjects passed the time with PS4 games
What did they do in their free time? Once all tasks were completed, the volunteers watched movies or played video games. The crew had access to a PS4 and mainly played many world-building games. This genre includes games like Minecraft.
Kelly Haston, one of the test subjects, also revealed that they played many standard games. She mentions Formula 1 as an example. There were other activities as well: in addition to the PS4, participant Anca Selariu watched a lot of TV, read, and painted (via The Guardian).
What’s next? Two more missions are planned. Two additional missions are set to launch at the same base in 2025 and 2027.
After the missions, NASA plans to use 3D printing to create future space research settlements. This is intended to reduce the amount of construction materials that would need to be transported to Mars over several flights.
In addition to the Mars simulation, NASA is researching other things. One scientist believes that the universe may not exist if there is no one to observe it: A NASA scientist is convinced that we live in the Matrix – with an experiment, he wants to prove that his theory is real
