At first glance it is a common house, with four bedrooms and a gym. But it is a house created with a 3D printer and designed so that, starting in June, four people live confined there for a year, simulating life on the planet Mars.
The habitat, called Mars Dune Alpha, was presented this Tuesday (04.11.2023) and is located at the NASA Johnson Space Center research facility in Houston, Texas. Those who reside there will help prepare a future mission to the red planet.
By measuring their performance and cognitive abilities, NASA will better understand the “resources” that must be provided during this ambitious journey, explains Grace Douglas, principal investigator for the program called CHAPEA, which is overseeing this experiment.
confined space on mars
It is a crucial point, given “the very restrictive weight limits that can be sent on these missions,” he adds. The 160-square-meter house includes a vertical farm for growing vegetables, a room dedicated to medical procedures, a relaxation area, and work stations.
There is also a door that leads to a simulation area of the Martian environment. On the red sand floor there is a weather station, a small greenhouse and a treadmill, where the volunteers will walk suspended by leashes.
“We can’t make them walk in circles for six hours,” jokes Suzanne Bell, program manager for NASA’s Behavioral Health and Performance Laboratory. She explains that this area will replicate the effort and time required for physical activity on Mars.
The names of the volunteers are not yet known, but they will not be astronauts. They will be under stress on a regular basis, with water restrictions or equipment failure, for example.
This house was 3D printed. “This is one of the technologies that NASA is looking at to potentially build habitats on the surface of other planets or on the Moon,” Douglas says.
The US space agency is preparing a round trip to Mars, but several details are still missing. This trip, which would last several years, could take place “in the late 2030s,” according to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.