‘Martian BBB’: Discover NASA’s unusual new program

Much has been said in recent months about the Artemis Mission, which aims to take humans back to the Moon. However, anyone who thinks that NASA is only focused on the Moon is mistaken, as the company’s goals are much bigger.

This is because it intends to take humanity to set foot on Martian soil, and more than that, to live there for a period of time. But, as is to be expected, in order to be able to survive on the Martian planet for so long, several tests and simulations are necessary.

Because of this, last Tuesday (11) NASA revealed images of the newest simulation that is about to go into operation. This simulation was named “Mars Dune Alpha” and is an installation created from a 3D printer.

This home contains four bedrooms and a gym, as well as a floor covered in red sand. It’s all part of the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (Chapea) program.

What is the objective of the Chapea program?

This entire facility was built so that four people could experience what life on Mars would be like. For the scientists involved, this sort of Martian BBB will serve to obtain data on how well ordinary people can solve problems such as water shortages and equipment failures.

In addition, scientists logically need to understand how psychologically resilient these people will be in a confined and constantly stressful environment. All of these will be metrics that NASA will use to know what it should or should not send to Mars on a potential mission.

After all, there is a limit to what can be carried on rockets with their crew. As for the house, it is 160 square meters and was built at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Among its facilities, as mentioned, it has four rooms for research volunteers and a “gym”, which contains a treadmill that simulates Martian gravity. There is also a vertical farm located inside a greenhouse, which will allow volunteers to grow food.

Finally, there will be a meteorological station, which will serve as a simulator of Martian atmospheric issues. As of the publication of this article, the identities of the volunteers have not been disclosed by NASA.