Preface
We're on Earth, but we want to go to Mars. There has been no communication with the outside world for a long time, and even the only observation window in this world can only see through the colorful Mars, and everything is significantly delayed in the process. This is the simulated Martian camp experiment set up by NASA, all in order to gain a foothold on Mars, and it is often a year-long exploration mission.
However, the long period of closed environment did not allow the astronauts to complete the mission as they wished, on the contrary, just five days after the mission began to adapt to life on Earth, the volunteers said that their state was not as healthy as in the past, and most of them showed signs of psychological trauma.
Camp Mars that stands out
The unprecedented simulation was designed in NASA2015 to prepare for future missions to Mars.
The protagonists are three men and three women, who spend a year in the camp's 800-square-meter sealed space. During the course of the year, their seemingly inconspicuous routines such as living space, diet ratio, and even breathing will be so strict that they can't afford to make mistakes.
The closed environment completely cut everyone off from the outside world, including any channels for information exchange. On the other hand, the sharing and fairness of all resources in daily life also make everyone the focus of the public.
Whenever they have free time, NASA staff will keep a good distance from the closed simulation sites in Hawaii to watch their every move.
That's right, every day of their daily lighting, work ends, and attendance records will be recorded in detail and uploaded to the platform in the form of live video, and their every move has become a public "open class".
Corresponding to this high-intensity supervision, the living environment of the six volunteers has naturally become a major issue.
Overall, simulating the Martian environment is not something they really love.
Their enlarged windows, endless exposure to the sun, as long as they look at the window, will seriously damage people's eyes.
For some reason, the camera that also doesn't stop is zooming in on the screen, and a long time of adaptation will turn into a kind of skin tone damage, and this problem is almost inevitable in the absence of a new life schedule.
This is just one of the problems, the remaining three, eating, living and working, not only will the Martian environment give them a lot of inconvenience, but the simulated environment itself will magnify six people into a flat land, which also makes their lives a lot more embarrassing and uncertain.
These are all problems that can be easily solved in the lives of ordinary people with little to no consideration, but they are all placed in a simulated Mars camp, which means that the final decision has been made on whether the future can be successfully and perfectly landed on Mars.
In NASA's view, if six volunteers can survive the year, it will equate to the maximum level of realism in the Martian camp, and the simulation camp is all about testing whether future astronauts have the most basic survival skills possible for a Mars mission.
Not only do they have to do scientific research in the "Martian" environment, but they also have to constantly adjust themselves to the lack of resources, interpersonal conflict resolution and psychological changes in a small-scale environment, which is equivalent to becoming a Martian version of the universal warrior in a long mission.
Volunteer A said that at the moment of "stationing", at the beginning everyone had the same opinion, and we understood that every scientific record was the most important thing for us, which was equivalent to each one of us and each iron cable that connected us to cross together.
But although we go step by step every time, because everyone is different, people are inextricably linked, and in this kind of place where there is no privacy, many small contradictions, conscious and unconscious, will expose a whole year's plan at any time.
Volunteer B also added that sometimes every time the pressure comes and goes quickly, but sometimes these things accumulated in the "body" will make everyone extremely tired, strong enough to become a habit of life, when she first entered the camp, she would also hold the infrared light at night to look through the books, and when she saw the diary, she felt unhappy.
But when she found that what she saw was exactly the same as the content of her previous diary, she couldn't help but feel how boring all this stuff was, and her mind could no longer focus on scientific research, and sometimes she just talked about work while playing with some fragmented tools.
In the uniqueness of this environment, we work side by side with others every day, but our work is individual rather than a team, and the "situation" of the six volunteers has given rise to a lot of problems that cannot be used, they need to work together in a small space from time to time, but because of these uncomfortable factors, everyone will have a lot of hidden dangers.
This simulated Mars mission can be described as an unprecedented experiment, covering not only the psychological problems caused by the lack of personal privacy, but also many of the survival training of future astronauts.
It was this year of closed life that made them more deeply appreciate the complexity and arduousness of the Mars exploration mission. And a thrilling process is also an unprecedented experience for paving the way for subsequent careers.
Volunteer A said that the most important reason why they got this valuable experience during the year was because everything in the camp mimicked the Martian environment to a great extent.
Although many of the resources in the camp are not enough to meet everyone's needs for life, on the other hand, these resources have also created countless software, and each problem exists to make the Mars mission as smooth as possible.
In terms of hardware, all volunteers were asked to carry a portable air purifier with them. This thing alone makes everyone feel the "comfortable" experience of life, without which people "can't get out of the house" every day, but the overall operation of the equipment in the camp is very stable.
Volunteer B said, "Before we went in, we were repeating the schedule almost 365 days a year, and many of us had to wait for confirmation before we could go to work, but once the interval was too long, and we didn't think about it later, it was equivalent to not adding a little life experience at all, and we could only say that we worked for a whole week more than others."
Overall, though, the year was worth it. In this experiment, the volunteers finally understood the importance of self-discipline and interpersonal interaction in a closed environment.
These valuable experiences not only provide an important reference for future Mars missions, but also give mankind a deeper understanding of the complexity and difficulty of space exploration. Through this experiment, we not only verified the reliability of key technologies and systems, but also promoted the development of future lunar and Martian programs.
And all this is inseparable from the hard work and fearless exploration spirit of every volunteer. It is with their efforts and dedication that we can move more firmly towards the sea of stars.
The author thinks
Six scientists gave their lives to the mission to explore Mars, and we will never forget their dedication and sacrifice.
It is precisely because of their selfless dedication that there is no possibility for human beings to explore the universe.
Their names will forever be engraved in the history of human flight to Mars, and as pioneers of human exploration of Mars, their experience and technical wealth will lay a solid foundation for those who come after them.
I would like to commemorate these outstanding scientists and pay tribute to the great cause of mankind's exploration of the universe.