0:02

Hello Earthlings alone and is

0:04

September eighteen? This is on

0:06

Car and Eight and we

0:09

are currently in the air

0:11

lock. There's

0:13

air in their locker. I don't think we're.

0:16

Best spot ice. Sounds

0:20

like. This

0:25

is a message from Mars Dune Alpha. Inside

0:29

this habitat for intrepid crew members

0:31

are surviving and a foreign isolated

0:33

home. They work together, they eat

0:36

together, and occasionally when they need

0:38

to suit up and leave the

0:40

safety of their habitat, they go

0:42

through the airlock. This is

0:45

where we put on or spacesuits. Were

0:48

lies pressure to run,

0:50

exit or reenter, the

0:52

have to. If

0:57

you're thinking to yourself, I

0:59

thought there weren't any humans

1:01

on Mars. Yeah, you're right,

1:03

But this mission will help

1:05

us get their it's called

1:07

Chickpea Crew Health and Performance

1:09

Exploration Analog. Before Nasa sense

1:11

humans to Mars for real,

1:13

were practicing here on Earth

1:15

at a specially designed Mars

1:17

habitat at Nasa's Johnson Space

1:19

Center. In Texas the

1:21

crew. Gave us an inside look, We

1:24

have a window that we use their boats

1:26

around. The word window that a use the

1:29

Tv with a video feed of the outside

1:31

of or habitat. And we

1:33

can see the. Martian sunrise with it

1:35

out the window. Whether the sun

1:37

basically goes over had and we've

1:39

actually see the shadow over habitat

1:41

on the ground and eventually dropped

1:43

night we see the stars. And

1:46

is really pretty. If. I

1:49

could sum up shop here and just

1:51

a couple of words the words would

1:53

be almost Mars. This.

2:03

Is Nasa's curious universe. Our

2:05

universe is a wild and

2:07

wonderful. Place. I'm your

2:09

host Pattie Boyd and in this

2:11

podcast Nasa is. Your tour guide. In

2:15

this episode we go inside

2:17

Superior. Nasa scientists

2:19

and researchers wanna know? What

2:21

happens when estimates are cooped up for

2:24

a year with the same three people

2:26

and have to manage the stress of

2:28

surviving in a Mars like environment? Scipio

2:30

said light on those questions like a

2:33

dress. Rehearsal for Life on Mars. So.

2:36

What's it like to live in Mars? Do an alpha

2:38

for more than a year? We'll

2:40

find out to dispatch has recorded

2:42

by crew members during the mission.

2:44

Will Also learn what it sounds

2:46

like and smells like inside their

2:49

Mars habitat. Sure how

2:51

the crew uses virtual reality

2:53

to make more spacewalks feel

2:55

as lifelike as possible. And.

2:58

Explore how the to peer through

3:00

his paving the way for the

3:02

first human mission. To Mars. It's.

3:07

Been more than sixty years since humans

3:09

last left footprints on the moon. Nasa

3:12

is getting ready to send astronauts

3:14

back. Not. Only will the

3:17

Autumn is program for the first woman on the

3:19

moon. It's going to establish a

3:21

long term presence that we've never had the

3:23

here. And we're not

3:25

stopping their. In. Our we worked

3:27

so hard in the space program to get to the

3:29

moon to try and go back to the moon. And

3:32

we've been working really hard to

3:34

try and make that path achievable

3:36

to dangle on Mars. Like.

3:39

Any Nasa mission to peer involve

3:41

a big team working together. Besides.

3:44

The crew members in the Mars habitat. Their

3:47

engineers who designed the Mars environment

3:49

including red dirt for spacewalks. Experts

3:52

and Behavioral Health who helps pick

3:54

the crew. and a mission

3:56

control team acting as their like said

4:00

and one scientist outside the habitat

4:02

who oversees it all. I'm

4:04

Dr. Grace Douglas. I'm the

4:06

principal investigator for the Crew Health

4:09

and Performance Exploration Analog, or CHPIA. GRACE

4:14

is based at NASA's Johnson Space Center

4:16

in Texas. CHPIA

4:18

builds on decades of research into

4:21

human spaceflight, and it

4:23

follows NASA's long-term plan to go back

4:25

to the moon and beyond. It

4:28

was a very wide effort to

4:30

make sure that

4:33

we were getting all of the

4:35

expert perspectives for what we

4:38

believe a Mars mission will look

4:40

like, to make it as realistic as possible.

4:43

At NASA, we don't do

4:45

anything until we practice, practice,

4:49

and practice some more. That

4:51

goes for living on Mars, too. The

4:54

CHPIA mission started in June 2023, and

4:57

it runs until the summer of 2024. Just

5:01

like on Mars, the four CHPIA

5:03

crew members can't leave their habitat

5:05

except for short excursions outside in

5:07

a spacesuit. And

5:09

like astronauts on the International Space Station,

5:12

the crew has limited food and water, limited

5:15

time, and a task

5:17

list to accomplish each day, like

5:19

conducting science experiments or maintaining equipment.

5:22

Also, it's not easy to communicate with

5:25

Earth. If there's an emergency,

5:27

the crew can't pick up the phone and

5:29

call mission control. When we close

5:31

the door in that habitat, they are in

5:33

there for the year. We also

5:35

can simulate the time delay. We're expecting a

5:38

lengthy time delay with all communications

5:40

for a Mars mission. So instead

5:42

of voice communications, everything is written

5:45

or sent by video. And

5:47

there's limits on how much data

5:50

can be sent. All

5:52

of those factors add stress. The

5:54

kind of stress that a real Mars crew will

5:56

also feel. One of

5:59

the things the investigators Since

8:01

there's no live communication, they recorded

8:03

voice memos about their experience. Just

8:07

like astronauts, the CHPIA crew had to

8:09

fit certain physical criteria. They

8:12

also have backgrounds in science or engineering.

8:15

And they signed up to leave behind Earth and

8:17

everything on it, including their friends

8:20

and families, for more than a year. All

8:25

four of them were intrigued by this new

8:27

challenge. I was

8:29

browsing NASA's webpage,

8:32

and that's how I came across the

8:34

announcement. This is Anka

8:36

Solariu. And why I

8:39

wanted to be a part of it? Because going

8:41

to Mars is a natural next

8:43

step for humanity. It's just a

8:45

requirement for human evolution, in

8:48

my opinion. And I've always wanted

8:50

to somehow participate. Anka

8:53

is a microbiologist in the U.S. Navy.

8:56

In CHPIA, she's the science officer,

8:58

the person in charge of research

9:00

that happens inside the habitat. My

9:03

job is to do analysis of

9:05

geology samples that we collect from

9:07

the Mars surface, also

9:10

perform some biology experiments trying

9:12

to grow crops. Yeah,

9:15

I also came across it

9:17

online, right up on the

9:19

web for it. And then I think the big thing

9:21

kind of repellent me would be kind of just a

9:23

sense of venture and just

9:25

kind of contribute to that next

9:28

step to Mars. That's

9:31

Nate Jones. His background

9:33

is emergency medicine. So

9:35

he's CHPIA's medical officer. It's

9:37

my job to ensure that biological information

9:39

can be collected. And

9:42

that these specimens are all ready to go.

9:44

It's my job to send them off to NASA for

9:46

analysis after they've been collected. If

9:48

a medical emergency were to occur to a

9:50

crew member, I would provide immediate medical assistance.

9:53

Up next is Ross Brockwell. On

9:57

Earth, he's an engineer who works in city planning.

10:00

I'm the flight engineer for TRIPIA Mission 1.

10:03

I'm responsible for many

10:06

of the habitat systems, so

10:08

making sure that they're operating

10:10

properly and maintenance activities and

10:12

schedules are kept. And

10:15

last, but definitely not least,

10:17

is Kelly Hastin. She's

10:19

a stem cell biologist and

10:21

she's the commander for TRIPIA. A

10:24

lot of people ask, what does the commander do? And

10:26

to be honest, it's not the most glamorous job.

10:28

So every single crew member takes part in

10:30

all of our activities. So we all do

10:32

similar things most of the time. Life

10:37

in TRIPIA revolves around the habitat, AKA

10:40

Mars Dune Alpha. The

10:43

whole thing is 1,700 square feet or

10:46

about the size of a medium one-story house.

10:49

Each crew member has their own small

10:52

bedroom. Plus, there's a communal area

10:54

and a few specialized workspaces. NASA

10:57

experts think that in the future, we might be able

10:59

to 3D print buildings from the

11:01

Martian soil. So the walls

11:04

and ceiling of Mars Dune Alpha are

11:06

all 3D printed out of a

11:08

red concrete-like material. People

11:10

often ask what it smells like. It doesn't

11:12

actually have a lot of smell. And one

11:14

of the reasons is that most of the

11:16

items that we brought in or that were

11:18

supplied to us as things that we'll use during the

11:20

mission are made to not have

11:23

a scent. It turns out that

11:25

strong scents can be harmful to some of the

11:27

machines that make space travel possible, like

11:29

water reclamation systems. In our

11:31

normal life, we're used to our laundry detergent

11:33

having a scent and maybe wearing perfumes

11:36

or having, you know, hand creams that

11:38

smell very strongly. And in this case,

11:40

we actually have very little of those

11:42

things. So the number one thing we

11:45

probably smell is food and

11:47

only when we're eating. I do have a bar

11:49

of soap that I keep that does have a

11:52

particular smell that I like, though, and sometimes that's

11:54

a way to sort of, like, feel comforted. All

12:02

over the habitat, the crew hears a

12:05

steady stream of machine noises, like

12:07

this sound, of a

12:09

3D printer in action, which

12:12

they can use to make parts for their equipment. In

12:18

the workspace, there's also a bank of

12:20

instruments and machines charging. It

12:24

takes a lot of noisy machinery to keep

12:26

the habitat running. You hear

12:28

a constant hum. I

12:32

like to imagine it as the engine of Mars, you

12:34

know, the heart of Mars. I think

12:36

there's just a whole lot of white noise. Actually,

12:39

we kind of, I think, have tuned it out

12:41

by now in general. But I

12:43

do remember when I first came into the habitat,

12:45

just how noisy it was, air

12:47

through vents, fans,

12:50

computers, PCs, running air fans, and all those

12:52

sort of things, quite a bit of white noise. This

12:55

is Kelly. We are in the exercise

12:57

bay of Dune Alpha, and this is

12:59

the sound of a crew member doing

13:01

a workout on the rowing machine. In

13:12

microgravity, astronauts lose muscle mass

13:14

and bone density without regular

13:16

exercise. It's

13:19

crucial to give the crew a way to stay in

13:21

shape. So one of the

13:24

specialized rooms in the habitat is a small

13:26

exercise area. There's

13:28

also a medical bay, which looks more

13:30

or less like an exam room at the doctor's office. Each

13:34

day starts in the common area. That's

13:36

when the crew goes over their assignments. We

13:39

do get up each day around the same time, around 6

13:41

a.m. We start our day. We congregate

13:43

in the kitchen, have a meal.

13:45

But then each day can be really,

13:47

diversely different. Inside the habitat,

13:49

the crew is growing a few crops so that

13:51

they can have fresh food. So

13:53

some days include gardening. On

13:56

other days, they conduct geological experiments on

13:58

the simulated Martian surface. But.

14:01

Decrease David days. I. Went

14:03

to get to leave the habitat. Normally

14:07

they were or three clothes that

14:09

when it's time to leave the

14:11

habitat they don a space suit

14:13

and head out for the airlock.

14:15

The spacewalks are called eve years

14:17

or extra vehicular activity. Here's

14:20

Kelly again. We are in a

14:22

sort of simulated space suit. Type

14:25

Outset Do you really get

14:27

back to. Being and in

14:29

the Martian environment and experiencing this

14:31

your physical load of moving around

14:34

and I have a spacesuit with

14:36

club the live. Just

14:39

outside the habitat, the crew has an

14:41

area called the Sandbox. It's

14:43

a don't room that mimics the surface

14:45

of Mars right down to the red

14:48

dirt. And. Walls with pictures

14:50

of read hills the say it off

14:52

into the horizon. The. Sandbox

14:54

gives the crew a chance to

14:56

walk around in their space suits

14:58

and complete missions like maintaining appointment

15:00

or studying the more surface. Onto

15:03

some a D A's or even

15:05

more immersive. With virtual

15:07

reality goggles and put you

15:10

inside the martian landscape. I.

15:12

Love going on the on

15:14

the da's because they really

15:16

steal from me like I

15:18

am. Walking on the surface of Mars. The.

15:21

Feels kind of a slightly difficult because

15:23

leave. We have ah a simulated stay

15:25

sued so we're on the treadmill and

15:27

then we have the are goggles on

15:29

and that enables us to actually have

15:32

the physical feeling of of activity as

15:34

well as seeing Mars at same time.

15:37

The. Martian landscape in Vr is

15:39

just really, really nice. As

15:41

beautiful and often times I will look

15:44

out as I'm walking and really appreciate

15:46

the vista of the different mountains were

15:48

looking at or four different landscapes and

15:50

it's really cool it's be there. Until

15:54

humans make it to the real. Mars. This

15:56

is about as close as anybody will

15:59

get to work. On a red Planet.

16:01

I. Would say Mars is very

16:04

sad he said elsewhere. Dust

16:06

everywhere. I. Will say

16:08

that the the A days are long days. They're

16:11

hard days we have worn out. It's

16:13

really amazing how fun it is

16:15

out there. Have hot and sweaty

16:18

you get. Usually.

16:20

We come as an hour. he

16:23

the A flight suits are so

16:25

flat as at some point where

16:27

I was kinda gross picture back

16:30

assets up afterwards like a day.

16:32

They haven't see these black flight

16:34

suits and there's his case of

16:37

wire services office to the office

16:39

of. Humans certainly contain a lot

16:42

assault on. They assume you have

16:44

to take steps to mitigate that.

16:47

In. All The True normally works five and a

16:49

half days a week. Similar to

16:51

astronauts on the International Space Station,

16:54

So. What does the crew do with the rest

16:56

of the time? Will. Even

16:58

on simulated mirrors, you need to unwind

17:00

after a long day. We.

17:02

Do get down same. Fantasy.

17:04

Board games and here and we also watch

17:06

a little bit of Tb together so we're

17:09

able to bring in our a certain amount

17:11

of data and we all collaborated to bring

17:13

in different shows and movies. So. We

17:15

picked the show and we watch it together so

17:17

that kind of interesting to both work and play

17:19

with the same three people for a full year.

17:22

And we also get some alone time where you can

17:24

send signed by yourself. I'm a

17:26

big reader so I read a lot. And.

17:29

I also like to do crafts, so

17:31

I'm doing some knitting and learning to

17:33

crochet. Several. Of us are

17:35

have musical instruments and spend some time

17:37

playing those in. Our downside. Disappear.

17:41

Crew members ended up here because

17:43

are over. Achievers. They.

17:46

Knew what they were signing up for. A

17:49

year of isolation. A year

17:51

away from their friends and families. A

17:54

year was no sunlight. Trees are

17:56

fresh air. but even

17:58

if you volunteer for them This

20:00

mission is Chapea 1. Grace,

20:03

the lead scientist, is already planning

20:05

to run the mission again. We

20:08

really need to repeat it with different

20:10

crews, with different individuals, and

20:13

understand statistically what

20:15

was an anomaly versus what's an outcome

20:17

that we can expect to see over

20:20

and over again. In

20:22

the next few years, a new crew will

20:24

repeat the mission as Chapea 2, and

20:27

then again with Chapea 3. So

20:30

the researchers don't want to give away too

20:32

many details about the experiment. Over

20:35

time, the science team will publish research

20:37

papers with findings about crew health and

20:39

performance throughout the year. Grace

20:42

says that rigorous data is what it takes

20:44

to build the path to Mars. It's

20:47

all steps to getting them there. So

20:50

our crews that are part of this

20:52

now, our team members that are supporting

20:54

the mission, we're all part of it.

21:00

When I imagine the day that the

21:02

first humans will leave a footprint on

21:04

Mars, I see an entire

21:08

world stopping and

21:10

watching. I see the

21:13

world of humans being infused

21:15

with hope. When

21:17

the first humans do walk on Mars, their

21:20

names will join Neil Armstrong, Sally

21:22

Ride, and other pioneers who push

21:24

humanity further. The

21:27

Chapea crew knows they won't get

21:29

the same recognition, but

21:31

they're building the foundation for the first human

21:34

mission to Mars, whether those

21:36

future astronauts know it or

21:38

not. I guess it would be

21:40

pretty cool if that first crew was aware of

21:42

us and they were appreciative

21:44

of the efforts we put into

21:46

this study. I actually hope

21:49

that if we do our job well here, they won't

21:51

think about us at all. Science

21:54

is an iterative process. You iterate on

21:56

things. You make small discoveries that build

21:58

and build. You know, some people

22:00

are lucky and have really big discoveries, but oftentimes

22:03

it's little tiny pieces. And I think that this

22:05

study is an example of that. The

22:07

first Morris crew doesn't have to remember

22:09

the names of the Chapea

22:12

crew. But I know

22:14

that they will definitely be representing

22:18

her spirit, the same

22:20

spirit that the first

22:22

human that saw a body of water

22:25

and carved a boat,

22:27

a rudimentary boat out of a log. Every

22:30

day I'm amazed and grateful to

22:32

be here. I'm amazed that I

22:34

can actually contribute to

22:37

the same exploration that

22:39

we have been carrying on for all

22:41

these decades and centuries,

22:43

and yeah, since we've appeared on

22:46

the planet. This

22:48

decade, NASA astronauts following in the same

22:50

spirit of exploration will leave the first

22:53

footprints on the moon in more than

22:55

50 years. The

22:58

Artemis program will open up a new

23:00

chapter of human exploration with

23:02

consistent access to the moon. And

23:05

after that, we'll look even further. Who

23:08

will eventually take that first step on Mars?

23:11

We don't know. As

23:13

Artemis brings humans back to the moon,

23:16

that Mars astronaut may be dreaming about

23:18

their own place in the stars. The

23:21

Chapea crew is taking one small step

23:24

so that whenever the time comes, humans

23:27

can make our next giant leap.

23:42

This is NASA's Curious Universe. This

23:45

episode was written and produced by Jacob Pinter.

23:48

Our executive producer is Katie Conans. The

23:51

Curious Universe team includes Christian Elliott,

23:53

Maddie Olsen, and Michaela Sosby. Our

23:57

theme song was composed by Matt Russo and Andrew

23:59

Santaguida. of System Sense. Christopher

24:02

Kim is our show artist. Special

24:05

thanks to Anna Schneider, Greg Wiseman,

24:07

and the Chapea team. If

24:10

you want to know even more about

24:12

Chapea, we've got you covered with another

24:14

NASA podcast. Check out Houston

24:16

We Have a Podcast. Every

24:18

month, hear a new audio update from the Chapea

24:21

crew. And follow Houston

24:23

We Have a Podcast for in-depth

24:25

coverage of NASA's human spaceflight program.

24:29

Thank you for tuning in to

24:31

the sixth season of NASA's Curious

24:33

Universe. We've enjoyed

24:35

taking you along with us as we've explored

24:37

our wild and wonderful universe, from

24:40

dark matter and dark energy, to

24:43

the hum of the sun, and so much

24:45

more. We're taking a break,

24:47

but we'll be back soon with more adventures.

24:50

Until then, you can continue exploring

24:52

with NASA by visiting nasa.gov. And

24:55

find even more NASA podcasts in your

24:57

favorite podcast app, or at

24:59

nasa.gov slash podcasts. If

25:03

you like NASA's Curious Universe, please let us

25:05

know by leaving us a review and sharing

25:07

this episode with a friend. And

25:09

remember, you can follow NASA's Curious Universe

25:12

in your favorite podcast app to get

25:14

a notification each time we post a

25:16

new episode. Yeah,

25:20

NASA was kind enough to provide us with

25:22

quite a few pictures of nature, and

25:25

it was a great thought. So I am wondering

25:28

why they chose to put the picture of the

25:30

one alligator in my room. I'm

25:33

not sure if they were trying to tell me something with

25:35

that or not.