Researchers emerge from yearlong stay in Mars simulation habitat atop Mauna Loa

MAUNA LOA >> A year ago, six volunteers of different nationalities and personalities — some chattier than others, some neater and cleaner— entered a modest dome two-thirds of the way up this desolate volcanic slope, where they had agreed to spend the next 365 days confined together to study potential effects on crews for future missions to Mars.

On Sunday, all six crew members emerged from their dome habitat and felt the chill Mauna Loa mist for the first time in a year. They looked a bit pasty and in need of some sun but otherwise appeared in good spirits.

“I’m looking forward to pineapple,” Andrzej Stewart, the chief engineering officer of the latest NASA-funded Hawaii Space Exploration Analogand Simulation (HI-SEAS) mission, said moments before he and his crew mates feasted on fresh fruits and vegetables outside the dome.

Stewart and his colleagues had just made history, having completed the longest-running space simulation on U.S. soil, as scientists and researchers continue to plan and prepare for an eventual manned expedition to Mars. The previous record-holder was the eight-month mission in the HI-SEAS dome that wrapped last year.

Since 2013, some 24 specialists chosen from some 800 applicants have now put their lives on hold and simulate extended missions to Mars atop Mauna Loa.

They’ve missed births, weddings, funerals and other significant moments to live with hardly any privacy in the dome’s close confines,documenting their days and their moods as researchers away from the dome take down additional data.

Meanwhile, the HI-SEAS project has steadily compiled massive amounts of what could be invaluable data on crew cohesion and other subjects to help plan manned trips to Mars.

“We now have 24 months of 24-7 data,” HI-SEAS Principal Investigator Kim Binsted said Sunday, moments before the crew exited. “This is really a whole portfolio of studies. We’re going to be digging through data for years.”

The project, affiliated with the University of Hawaii at Manoa, has also steadily gained more attention since 2013. The crowd of friends, family and media on hand to greet the crew as they reenter the world has successively ground with each mission. About 50 people welcomed them Sunday, including international reporters and film crews. Now that HI-SEAS has completed four missions, including three on crew-cohesion,“we’re actually respected now,” Binsted said.

For this mission there were too many people on the rocky slope to allow access to the small interior dome. Media were briefed to give crewmembers space in case they were overwhelmed by the crowd and the attention after a year in isolation. The crew members stayed to speak with visitors Sunday.

Eventually, NASA could use the Hawaii missions’ findings on crew cohesion, as well the crews’ use of water and other resources, to help the space agency plan expeditions to the red planet. NASA officials say the nation’s space agency has at least a $3 billion annual budget dedicated to future Mars missions alone.

The agency has invested more than $2 million to fund the missions on Mauna Loa, including two future eight-month simulations, according to Binsted, who’s a UH researcher.

On Sunday, crew members said they were happy to step outside the dome without having to wear a space suit to simulate the red planet. Stewart, a self-described “military brat” who moved frequently growing up, said he felt mixed emotions about leaving the habitat. “If you live somewhere long enough…kind of where you live becomes home after a while. I’m going to miss the place.”

Much of the crew agreed that the hardest time they spent in isolation was during winter, when it was really “cold and dark,” as Chief Medical and Safety Officer Sheyna Gifford put it. The habitat, which includes composting toilets and showers, relies on solar power.

During the yearlong mission crew members conducted their own research and projects. They also used virtual-reality equipment to view family and friends and study if that helped boost their morale better than conventional video messages. The missions have an approximately40-minute communications delay to simulate the distance to Mars.