It’s still years away, but NASA gets advice from the Navy on how to survive on Mars in order to better prepare their astronauts for the long-anticipated mission on the Red Planet.
- The space agency is working with a submarine base in Connecticut
- They are investigating ways to improve team cooperation and resilience
- Both astronauts and submariners share the burden of long journeys, isolation, and living in close quarters with the same people
It has been a dream for the space agency for a long, long time, and now they’re finally approaching the moment when man will step on Mars. However, the problem is helping them return home safely. The taxing psychological and physiological effects of travelling so deep in space have to be clearly understood before the mission can launch.
As they contemplate their future mission meant to mark a moment in time for the history of mankind, NASA is requesting the U.S. Navy submarine force for advice. There are no others who might understand better what isolation in an inhospitable environment is truly like. Crew members stay, work and live together in a steel tube for months on end.
If there would be anyone who knows how tough the future mission will be for astronauts, it would be them. Travelling into deep space or through deep waters might have many things in common. It will require members to rely on their crewmates to survive in isolated conditions.
The space agency is now reportedly working with a military laboratory in Groton, Connecticut, where they will gain a better understanding of how teams cope with the stress. According to Brandon Vessey, who is a scientist at NASA’s human research program, they have a shared interest among themselves on team resilience.
Both are searching for the best ways to train their members to survive and cope with being trapped in close quarters with the same people for long periods of time. This could be taxing even for people who know each other well. It could only be imagined how it would be for astronauts from different backgrounds.
The experiment between NASA and the U.S. Navy will begin in January or February of next year. They will attempt to identify a tool based on observations to improve team cooperation and resilience. Volunteers will be trapped in space capsules at the Johnson Space Center, recorded throughout their experience, and then sent to the submarine base in Connecticut.
In the meantime, NASA is also looking into the process of growing food outside of our planet. Indeed, Matt Damon seemed to excel at space farming in ‘The Martian’ by growing potatoes, but the agency is currently working on raising just a few salad crops. It will be a vital component for possible long-term colonization of the Red Planet.
It’s just one of the many researches and studies that require completion until 2030. New technologies will be unveiled in the following years, and astronauts will undergo even more training. Hopefully, they will band together, cooperate inside the capsule, and brave the dusty storms of Mars as a team.
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