We can't all be Mark Watney - the botanist and mechanical engineer character from The Martian and his heroic efforts to survive on Mars for a the better part of a year. However the University of Hawaii at Manoa, funded by NASA, has run a series of experiments the comes pretty close. Earlier this week they finished a year long simulation of living on Mars with a crew of six scientists. Living in a dome with about 1000 square feet of space (a bit smaller than our own classroom) with its single window, the crew members had to cooperate well together to succeed in the task. Not only did they live off freeze dried foods and lacking some of the daily luxuries we've become used to (like running water), any communication with those outside the dome was delayed by at least 20 minutes and any problems that arose needed to be solved with the materials available - no running out to the hardware store for them. One of the real surprises was needing to rework their own plumping system. This and similar experiments and helping set the path for an eventual real mission to Mars, but it certainly didn't stop the crew from looking for some pizza and bananas upon their return to Earth Comments are closed.
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Mr. WelkerTechnology Teacher at Southeast Raleigh High School. Archives
October 2019
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