It takes more than rocket science to get a crew living on the moon or mars.
NASA is launching Chapea, the Crew Health Performance Exploration Analog, pronounced chap-EE-ah, this month. It’s a big box at Johnson Space Center where four volunteer scientists will live for a year in preparation for extended stay on the moon or other heavenly bodies.
NASA announced the four crew members in April.
Cut off from the outside world, they’ll live in a 1700 square foot box on Johnson Space Center for one year as if they were in space. Former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao flew three Space Shuttle missions and was commander of Expedition 10. “We’ve gotten good at crew selection. That usually works out very well. For example, Salizhan Sharipov, the Russian Air Force colonel that I flew with on the long duration side of it, we’ve stayed in touch and stayed good friends. I always call him the brother I never had.”
Studies of the effects of long-term isolation have been underway for some time, but this is kicking it to a higher level. They’ll only be able to communicate with the outside world on a 22-minute delay, as they will in space.
The crew will suit up and go through all the research routines they will while living on another planet. They’ll be remotely controlling rovers and analyzing data, conducting research on rocks and whatever they might encounter in space. “They’re looking at things like how the crew gets along, interactions. They’re looking at any challenges biomedically, just to get a little bit better educated about what it would be like on a long duration mission to Mars,” adds Chiao.
We’ll be getting regular updates from NASA.
photo: Getty Images