Luca Parmitano, the leader of the Aquarius Reef Base expedition, announced on Friday that NASA astronauts will move underwater in a 14-day experiment. The study aims to test the administration’s technical means of investigation using the surface and depth levels of the sea.
After spending the past decades testing their technological means in space and special laboratories, NASA is now looking for other terrestrial locations where they can observe the abilities of their equipment.
The underwater mission will last for approximately 14 days, according to the official declaration of the administration. The operations will be carried out on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean within the area that is normally designated to the International University Aquarius Reef Base of Florida.
19 similar missions have been carried out before by NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations; therefore, experts have no reason to believe that the current mission will not be successful. They have chosen the depths of the Atlantic Ocean because the environment is very similar to the one in space.
The tools and techniques that will be evaluated during this 14-day mission will be later on, used in space investigations, if tests have positive outcomes. As expected, the current endeavor has been designed to provide astronauts with the feedback they need for the robots they will use on Mars.
Thus, the underwater region has been chosen because it is the only one that reflects the surface of Mars and its moons. Scientists did not specify the type of tests that they will conduct, but they will most likely keep the press up to date with every new discovery they make.
NASA is now keen on finding solutions to some of their most important aspects pertaining to the 2020 mission on Mars. They want to prevent communication delays and to find new hardware that can facilitate communication between NASA headquarters and space shuttles.
Both the space administration and the European Space Agency are making efforts to integrate smart technology within their space projects. Tablets, smartphones and other similar gadgets will be on the map when NASA’s astronauts will first walk on Mars’ surface. Microsoft is also contributing by equipping spaceships with their OnSight virtual reality headset.
Image source: www.nasa.gov
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