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Mars NASA

NASA Locks 4 Volunteers Into 3D-Printed Virtual 'Mars' For Over a Year (nypost.com) 54

Posted by BeauHD from the serious-dedication-required dept.
Four volunteers will spend the next 378 days in a simulation of Mars, facing harsh, realistic challenges in tight quarters under NASA's watchful eye in preparation for a real-life mission to the red planet. From a report: Research scientist Kelly Haston, structural engineer Ross Brockwell, emergency medicine physician Nathan Jones and US Navy microbiologist Anca Selariu were locked into the virtual planet at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on Sunday as part of the first of a three-year-long simulation study by the space agency. "The knowledge we gain here will help enable us to send humans to Mars and bring them home safely," Grace Douglas, the mission's principal investigator at NASA, said during a briefing.

Nasa 3D-printed the 1,700-square-foot facility, dubbed Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog -- or CHAPEA. It will be the longest analog mission in the agency's history. The habitat -- named Mars Dune Alpha -- will feature a kitchen, private crew quarters, and two bathrooms, with medical, work, and recreation areas. The crew will be expected to carry out "mission activities," like collecting geological samples, exercising, and practicing personal hygiene and health care, with minimal contact with their family and loved ones, according to NASA. To capture the true essence of life on our neighboring planet, the crew must work through "environmental stressors," including limits on resources, periods of isolation, and equipment failures.
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NASA Locks 4 Volunteers Into 3D-Printed Virtual 'Mars' For Over a Year More

NASA Locks 4 Volunteers Into 3D-Printed Virtual 'Mars' For Over a Year

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  • Fox beat them to it: Stars on Mars [fox.com].

    Fingers crossed NASA's version is better ...

    • That show blows goats. It'd be 20 times better if they'd stop trying to pretend they're "actually on Mars, wow, so cool." It's celebritards dancing for the camera with fake drama and two minutes per episode or less of Shatner not even doing a Shatner impression. Meh.

      • It'd be 20 times better if they'd stop trying to pretend they're "actually on Mars, ...

        Or go all in on the premise. Round trip conversation with Earth takes 20 minutes, etc ... I'm guessing all the "celebrities" would bail if it was too hard.

        • They claim a seventeen minute delay, which is why Shatner can't do more than bumpers for challenges, but it's still all way too pampered rich kids doing pampered rich kid things in a desert.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      It is what I was thinking. I donâ(TM)t understand the premise, but it looks fun

  • Meanwhile, just north of Tucson (Score:5, Funny)

    by spywhere ( 824072 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @02:49AM (#63639132)
    Biosphere 2 is still vacant.

    • They cheated on that one too, right?

      At least this time they have an equal number of males and females.

      I wonder what they'll do for fun being locked up for a year.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        They cheated on that one too, right?

        Probably. The whole idea is far too simplistically naive to actually work.

      • WHAT TH--Who's the scientist that packed all these back issues of Penthouse Forum?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          That is soooo yesterday. You can get enough porn for a decade on an SD card these days!

          • That is soooo yesterday. You can get enough porn for a decade on an SD card these days!

            And you like repeating the same movies over and over?

            • And you like repeating the same movies over and over?

              Well....as long as she does what she is told, sure.

              ;)

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by gweihir ( 88907 )

              SD cards you can buy are up to 1TB in size. That is something like 1000h of porn. Makes 100h per year with 10 years. Now, just viewing everything once gives you something 20 minutes of action each day, that may or may not be enough depending on individual preferences. On the other hand, after 1000h of different porn, I expect you can start again at the beginning, so watching things several times should be entirely feasible. And if several people do this, you can swap for more variety!

              Or you can put somethin

              • eh.. how long until AI generated porn is a thing? There's a billion hours of training material. Enter your kink in detail and voila.

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by gweihir ( 88907 )

                  Good point.

                • It's already been a thing for quite some time, to the extent that legislation making simulated illegal porn a crime was passed, IIRC, something like 10 years ago. They didn't need LLMs for that. They used some kind of expert system.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Nah. There's a TV show called "Stars on Mars" where it's literally C-List celebrities you never heard of (except for William Shatner) trying to live on mars.

      It's so stupid you might as well flip the script and say the ones who won are the ones who get to leave early. Either that or a meteor will just go and destroy it all.

  • MarsGate Anyone? (Score:3)

    by zenlessyank ( 748553 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @03:25AM (#63639176)

    Maybe this will go better.

  • I did something very similar.
    My COVID quarantine.
    Minus the NASA paycheck.
  • It's better! Because it is 3D printed! Everyone get your 3D printing boners ready to fap furiously!

  • Big Brother (Score:3)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @04:24AM (#63639244)
    Essentially, a very expensive, long, slow, boring series of Big Brother.

    • Essentially, a very expensive, long, slow, boring series of Big Brother.

      And probably with a LOT of checklists.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      At least they will get out after a year. People actually going to Mars (if that ever happens) will not.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by jonadab ( 583620 )
        There are much bigger differences than that. The facility is physically located inside a substantial and breathable atmosphere, and it doesn't take 2 years to send them supplies, among other things.

        Presumably, whatever is learned from this early experiment could be applied to later experiments, in order to learn more, which could then be applied to later experiments...

        If you were thinking we'd be able to jump straight from this (if it goes well) to a manned Mars mission, sorry, that's not realistic. We're
    • The second series will be a lot more interesting though when they start voting people out the house.
  • Walk before you run.....omg. Maybe I'm too old, but you set up a moon base FIRST and work out what can be done, see what works, what doesn't and it's close to earth to shuttle people back and forth and NOT creating a death sentence by trying to go to Mars beforehand. Common sense, it is a lost art ?? I saw all the moon landings/walks and always thought about all the time we have wasted by no longer going back and establishing a moon base !

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gtall ( 79522 )

      Ya, I'm sure NASA would NEVER think of that. Regardless, I hear Musk is big on Mars, we'll send him.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Regardless, I hear Musk is big on Mars, we'll send him.

        That would be a win for everybody, maybe even for him (if he reincarnates in a place where he can screw up less...)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Common sense, it is a lost art ??

      It always was and probably always will be a lost art. Today it is just more visible because the few people that can fact-check an a) do it much easier, no need for a trip to the library anymore and b) you get exposed to many more moronic ideas these days because Internet. Before that you mostly only got to see the mental failures of your social circle and those that made the papers.

    • What you are trying to say they aren't going is in fact the exact thing they ARE doing.

  • Either the movie or the real life Biosphere 2.

  • Stressors? (Score:3)

    by Viol8 ( 599362 ) on Wednesday June 28, 2023 @09:41AM (#63639970) Homepage

    ""environmental stressors," including limits on resources, periods of isolation, and equipment failures."

    Umm, no. The main stressors would be the health problems from the 2 year journey there, the .38G , lethal UV and the seriously nasty perchlorates in the soil. I suspect those won't be simulated making this a very expensive version of Big Brother.

  • Can we lock politicians on a simulated different planet for a year and just get but with civil servants that are held to account of a higher standard anyhow? It's be interesting. Firstly to see if we can survive without them. Secondly to see if they will resort to cannibalism and eat each other to survive so we can learn who they really are without the scripts, speech prep and "staying on message". The one that endured the hardship in the nicest, most caring way and has his mates backs gets to leave and st

  • How do they propose to simulate Mars gravity? According to the internet, if you weigh 100 lbs on Earth, you would weigh 38 lbs on Mars. For those who prefer the metric system, if you weight 100 kg on Earth, you would weigh 38 kg on Mars. It's sort of like -40C = -40F.

  • At random intervals a 3D representation of "Arnie" with his eyes bulging out their sockets will appear. The volunteers will have just seconds to respond and save him or be subjected to back to back playbacks of the movie "Junior".

    The only food available will be potatoes grown by the crew using their own shit as fertiliser.

  • Let's hope the janitor doesn't kill everyone inside by unplugging crucial systems [cnn.com].

  • I guess I wonder what kind of people they're going to get who can just take a year off?

    Going to suggest that it won't be...rocket scientists?

    • I'd actually expect college grads with no immediate prospects who think it'll be a lark as well as an awesome experience that helps further the dream of space exploration they presumably share.

      Because yes, otherwise the available demographic doesn't seem like the best group to simulate future actual astronauts.

  • What are they using to stimulate the high doses of radiation just waiting for the lucky people who step outside on Mars? Hell I'm even giving them the freebie that their shelter is ideal and radiation proof....
    How are they simulating the greatly reduced gravity?

    Because if this is just "let's see if folks can live in cramped spaces", that's been done repeatedly over decades.

  • (wink) Virtual Mars that is.

    From the TV audio: it was the first reported incident of an astronaut getting mugged upon his return.

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