The Sunday Read: ‘Can Humans Endure the Psychological Torment of Mars?’

[Music]. imagine volunteering to live on Mars for. 378. days only you never actually leave. planet. Earth you walk through a plain white. office door inside of a warehouse in. Houston the door shuts behind you and. you're locked inside a stage designed to. look like a martian. habitat from more than a year you and.

three other volunteers are completely. isolated from the outside world inside. this 1700 ft structure where everything. is made from 3D printed imitation. Martian. rock you eat freeze-dried space food for. every meal you wear virtual reality. goggles and walk around a red sandbox to. simulate space walks you're under near. constant surveillance from mission. control and to mimic the actual. condition of communication between Earth.

and Mars any message you send to family. or friends back home takes at least 22. minutes to. arrive to the people who applied mainly. NASA super fans who were required to. have master's degrees in math or science. this experiment sounded like a dream. come true the chance to make a noble. sacrifice for the future of. humanity being invited to participate. felt like winning a tour of Willy. Wonka's ch Factory even though we know.

through repeated research over many. decades the pernicious effects of. prolonged confined isolation on the. human. psyche the study is in progress right. now and it's coming to an end this. summer what will NASA learn from this. that we don't already know and when the. participants leave that stage set how. will they have. changed I'm Nathaniel rich and I'm a. contributor to the New York Times. magazine based in New New Orleans I tend.

to be drawn to stories that have. environmental themes with moral. Dimensions that lack Clear. Solutions this week's Sunday read is a. piece I wrote for the magazine about. chapia this bizarre experiment being. conducted by NASA's Mars research. division NASA claims it wants to. determine the effects of prolonged. isolation on astronauts chosen to serve. on the first human Mission to Mars or on. future Mars colonists.

I came to this story through my own pet. obsession with isolation. experiments I've been fascinated by a. couple of studies from a few decades ago. including a series of tests where people. were imprisoned in Subterranean caves. for long periods of time to see what. would happen to them to their sense of. reality their sleep schedules and their. brains the stories of some of these. experiments end in spectacular. tragedy I was curious to know whether. anyone was still conducting major.

isolation tests. today as it turns out NASA's been. conducting isolation experiments for. decades in preparation for the. colonization of the Moon and other. planets to see whether people living in. outer space would go. mad as I started to look into this. current study it raised a lot of larger. questions not just about isolation but. about space exploration and about. Humanity's relationship with our own. planet there's a certain element of the.

US space program that's very. triumphalist and giddy the excitement of. discovering new. worlds but there's also a mournful. quality to our dreams of space. colonization think of the familiar image. from science fiction of the astronaut. trapped in a space suit floating off. into the Oblivion of outer. space that mournfulness even that sense. of horror seems to mirror the tone of. these isolation. experiments the idea of locking yourself.

up willingly to figure out what'll. happen to you when pushed Beyond what's. conventionally thought to be healthy or. Humane I spoke with Jeffrey maias a. science historian at Cornell University. who's writing a book about the history. of isolation. research I asked him why do we keep. doing this research over and over again. when we already know what isolation does. to people and he said it's not actually. about what we're going to find out it's. about satis fine in.

urge he likened the Mars experiments to. a traumatic. repetition he told me we're coming to. terms with the trauma of having ruined. this planet and we're trying to enact. some kind of utopian future where we. don't make the same mistakes. again so here's my story can humans. endure the psychological torment of Mars. read by Eric Jason. Martin our audio producer for this.

episode is Adrien Hurst the original. music you'll hear was written and. performed by Aaron. [Music]. Esposito Alyssa Shannon was on her. morning commute from Oakland to. Sacramento where she worked as an. advanced practice nurse at the. University Hospital when NASA called to. tell her that she had been selected for.

Omar's Mission she screamed and pulled. off the highway as soon as she hung up. she called her partner an information. security operations manager at the. University of California Berkeley named. Jake. Harwood wow Harwood said yeah Shannon. said. wow they sat in Silence with the. information struggling to Fathom the. shape and weight of it for a very long. time later that morning Nathan Jones an. emergency room physician in Springfield.

Illinois received the call that he had. so fervently awaited and so deeply. dreaded his thoughts turned immediately. to his wife Casey and their three sons. who were 8 10 and 12 you get only 18. years with your kids he told himself if. you accept this opportunity you'll have. to give up one of them and yet he. couldn't possibly turn down NASA Mars he. had convinced himself was his.

as a child he dreamed of walking across. an alien planet in a state of Wonder he. hoped to attend space camp but his. family couldn't afford it once his sons. were old enough he took them to Cape. Canaveral for a rocket. launch when he told Casey the news she. nearly burst into. tears this sm's Mission chapia would not. actually go to Mars but the success of. chapia crew help and performance.

exploration analog will hang on the. Precision with which it simulates the. first human expedition to Mars an. eventuality that NASA expects to occur. by. 2040 that people will travel to Mars and. soon is a widely accepted conviction. within NASA the target date for the. initial human Mission has drifted. slightly in a 2018 report commissioned. by Congress NASA estimated that the. first human beings would land on Mar.

no later than the late 2020s but the. certainty has not wavered even if. technical hurdles remain Rachel mccaulay. until recently the acting deputy. director of NASA's Mars campaign had as. of July a punch list of 800 problems. that must be solved before the first. human Mission launches many of these. concern the mechanical difficulties of. transporting people to a planet that is. never closer than 33.9 Million Miles. Away.

keeping them alive on poisonous soil in. unbreathable air bombarded by solar. radiation and Galactic cosmic rays. without access to immediate. communication and returning them safely. to Earth more than a year and a half. later many other problems involve. technical details so Arcane that mcau. wouldn't even know how to begin. explaining them to a well-intentioned. journalist lacking an advanced. engineering degree but mcau does not.

doubt that NASA will overcome these. challenges what NASA does not yet know. what nobody can know is whether Humanity. can overcome the psychological torment. of Martian. life enter Chia instead of asking. questions about Aeros shell sensor. design and terrain relative navigation. it promised to ask questions about. people for 378 days four Ordinary People. would would enact as closely as possible.

the lives of Martian colonists receiving. directives feedback and near total. surveillance from Mission Control they. would eat astronaut food conduct basic. experiments perform maintenance duties. respond to endless surveys and enjoy. highly structured downtime this level of. extreme veros similitude is necessary to. ensure that the experiment accurately. determines whether human beings can. Thrive while living millions of miles.

from everybody they've ever. known experimenters wanted to learn. whether crew members could eat low salt. prepackaged astronaut meals for hundreds. of days without losing their appetite. weight and positive attitude whether. they could live in harmony with. strangers in a confined space whether. they could preserve a cohesive. professional environment when they are. out of contact with Earth for as long as. 3 weeks at a time such questions are of. Paramount importance because no Mission.

to Mars can succeed if its inhabitants. cannot maintain their health their. happiness and most critical of all their. sanity and so before NASA can safely. judge whether astronauts will thrive on. Mars NASA must first determine whether. astronaut imitators can thrive on a. stage set designed with maximum Fidelity. to look like. Mars Mars is calling began the.

announcement that NASA published on its. website in August. 2021 unlike most NASA missions chapia. was open to the general public or at. least a reasonably broad swath of it. citizens or permanent residents between. the ages of 30 and 55 with a master's. degree in a stem field applicants were. told to expect the experience to be. mentally. demanding among the not insignificant. percentage of the country country that. idolizes NASA this news was tantamount.

to learning that Willie Wonka would open. his mysterious Factory to five lucky. contest winners NASA offered four golden. tickets to Mars or rather Mars Dune. Alpha a 1700 sqt habitat built inside a. warehouse at the Johnson Space Center in. Houston the habitat was constructed as. future Mars dwellings will be. constructed by 3D printer for Inc. Martian colonies will use Martian.

regolith because NASA does not possess. sufficient quantities of Martian Rock. chapia used a proprietary airtight. cement-based material called lava creit. which extrudes from a 3D printer layer. by layer like orange toothpaste though. lava cre can be printed in any color. NASA Engineers chose to dye the habitat. that peculiar Hue of orange misleadingly. called Martian red. at one end of the rectangular habitat.

four identical 6X 11t cells serve as. bedrooms in the middle lies the lounge a. small room with a television and four. reclining chairs the other end is. occupied by several desks with computer. monitors a medical station and a crop. Garden the vegetables are not intended. for subsistence but for mental health. growing plants one chapia researcher. said May provide py ological benefits.

for astronauts living in isolated. confined environments away from Earth. rooms have different ceiling Heights in. order according to its Builder to avoid. spatial monotony and crew member fatigue. a hatch opens to a martian backyard a. tinted sandbox of reddish sand and two. treadmills to be used for space walks by. virtual reality goggled crew members the. walls of the backyard are painted with a. mural of Maran Cliffs there are no.

windows the duration of the experiment. is the most glaring violation of ver. similitude orbital geometries dictate. that the shortest possible roundtrip. Mission to Mars will last about 570 days. a scenario possible once every 15 years. next in. 2033 a typical Martian Tour of Duty will. last at least 800. days to preserve the Integrity of the. experiment NASA has refused to disclose.

any additional details about what the. crew will experience during their 378. day confinement which will end on July. 6th. 2024 NASA has emphasized only that. participants will experience resource. limitations equipment failure. communication delays and other. environmental. stressors but if Alysa Shannon and. Nathan Jones were to take NASA at its. word about its dedication to realism. they could assume that certain.

conditions would have to be present crew. members on a mission to Mars will for. instance have to form durable emotional. bonds with total strangers relying on. them for the Comforts and consolations. of the relationships they abandoned on. Earth crew members will have to respond. to every emergency themselves without. the possibility of intervention or even. guidance from a mission command too. distant to reply promptly to an SOS they. would have to come to terms with their. inability to care for a sick child.

Comfort an upset spouse or visit a dying. parent future Mars voyagers will not. only have to tolerate these conditions. in order to win the privilege of. longdistance space travel they will have. to pursue the opportunity with devout. single-minded purpose they will have to. want to travel to Mars more than almost. anyone else in the world they will have. to embrace the knowledge that for at. least 570 days they will be the most. isolated human beings in the history of.

the. universe Alyssa Shannon had fantasized. about colonizing Mars since childhood. she spent weeks on the floor of her. bedroom playing with a Lego spaceship. that converted into a martian base. station later she read Ray bradberry's. Martian Chronicles James sa Cory's. expanse series and Kim Stanley. Robinson's Mars Trilogy any Martian. sci-fi she could find she knew she could.

tolerate hardship and extended periods. in isolation she was an avid Backpacker. having hiked the John mure Trail in 23. days and trekked across Spain in 40 she. would miss cooking her specialty was. whole wheat sourdough pizza but she was. willing to sacrifice her culinary. passion in service of Humanity's future. her partner Jake understood her decision. to apply he said re affirmed what I knew. about her when it comes time to do.

something important requiring a major. commitment she's the kind of person who. will follow through while she waited to. hear back from NASA Alyssa didn't. discuss it much the prospect was almost. too exciting to. Bear Nathan Jones the father of three. told his identical twin Matthew that he. felt the mission had been designed for. him and that he had been made for the. mission Matthew agreed Nathan could talk. to anyone and seemed to solve any.

problem he faced he had spent years as a. night shift paramedic saving lives in. the backs of speeding ambulances he had. volunteered on medical missions in the. jungles of Honduras treating Health. emergencies for members of remote. indigenous tribes without being able to. speak their language or for that matter. much Spanish Jones was the emergency. specialist in his household too. responsible for repairing every leak. dysfunctional Appliance and clogged.

toilet he figured he could handle Mars. or at least. Mars Casey his wife wasn't certain she. could handle it when Nathan announced. that he had applied she was dumbfounded. why she asked would you choose to leave. our family for a. year another version of this question.

was posed by various professional. observers of the American Space Program. the historians ethicists and NASA. Consultants who spend much of their. professional lives Imagining the future. of space exploration and planetary. colonization what they wondered did NASA. hope to learn from chapia that it did. not know. already the psychic Perils of separation. from one's social world are well. understood don't we already know what.

isolation does to people asks JS Johnson. Schwarz a professor of philosophy at. witcha State University who studies the. ethics of space. exploration what uncertainty exists. about what's going to happen when you. lock people inside a room for a year. just because the room is painted to look. like Mars doesn't mean it's going to. change the. results the findings to which Johnson. Schwarz referred were from the last 80. years of isolation research a field of. study initiated during World War II when.

the British royal Air Force grew. concerned about Pilots performance. during solo reconnaissance flights. officers noticed that the longer a pilot. stayed in the air the fewer German. submarines he detected the psychologist. Norman mackworth determined that the. monotony of the mission was responsible. but inattention wasn't the worst of it. monotony weakened the Pilot's competence. in even the most basic tasks macworth. conclusions inspired a series of studies.

by the psychologist Donald oeb at McGill. University in Montreal in which male. students earned $20 a day to lie on a. bed in a lighted soundproofed gray. cubicle Hebb confirmed macworth findings. and added a disturbing new. wrinkle monotony didn't only cause. intellectual impairment it led to change. of. attitude at first hebb's students slept. a lot and ruminated on their studies and.

their personal problems later they fell. into reminiscences recreating movies. they had watched or trips they had taken. some counted to incredibly large numbers. eventually however they lost the ability. to focus several students reported blank. periods during which they did not have a. single thought next came the. hallucinations A procession of marching. squirrels hauling sacks over their. shoulders. nude women frolicking in a woodland pool.

giant eyeglasses marching down a street. an old man wearing a battle helmet in a. bathtub rolling across a field on rubber. Wheels dogs endless dogs one student. complained of a phantom sucking my mind. out through my eyes the delusions made. the students vulnerable to manipulation. when played recordings about ghosts. poltergeists and ESP they were far more. likely to believe such phenomena were. real even long after the experiment.

ended hebb's findings inspired a boom of. isolation studies subjects were confined. within iron lungs water tanks and. Subterranean caves the results were. consistent these experiments were. extremely useful to many different. people says Jeffrey mathas a historian. of science at Cornell University who is. writing a book about the history of. isolation research. besides attracting neuroscientists and.

psychologists the research also drew the. interest and funding of the US. intelligence Community the CIA. Incorporated findings into their. practice of coercive counterintelligence. interrogation or what today might be. called brainwashing or. torture the isolation studies were also. closely monitored by the Air Force which. directed the nent US space program. before the creation of NASA in.

1958 worried that space flight might. drive astronauts insane the Air Force. conducted the first iteration of a. chapia like experiment at the Air. Force's School of aeronautic medicine in. San Antonio in. 1955 prospective astronauts were. enclosed for a week within a spaceship. cockpit slightly larger than a coffin. perpetually illuminated by bright. fluorescent lights the Airmen were. assigned an overwhelming number of. technical tasks and in some cases given.

huge doses of. amphetamines their experience followed a. familiar trajectory initial High Spirits. gave way to what one researcher called a. gradual increase in irritability which. abruptly flipped into Frank hostility. many participants including a few who. hadn't taken speed hallucinated One. Pilot saw little people perched on the. instrument panel I can't say if I. thought they were alive or not he said I.

really don't know another pilot. abandoned the experiment after 3 hours. and demanded psychiatric care similar. studies followed in blackened an aoic. Chambers and pill shaped capsules. dangling from high altitude balloons. before the entire line of inquiry was. put to rest by project. Mercury during the successful solo. missions that marked the formal start of. the American Space Program in the early. 1960s astronauts did not suffer from any.

obvious psychological distress plating. hebb's. researchers all future long duration. Expeditions remained in Earth's orbit. allowing crew to communicate easily with. family and friends the International. Space Station flies about as far from. Earth as Manhattan is from Washington. although government agencies. particularly those concerned about crew. performance aboard nuclear submarines. continued to examine the effects of.

isolation NASA did not NASA had not. solved the problem of isolation in outer. space it realized it did not need to. solve it at least not until half a. century later when a new challenge. presented itself a human mission to a. planet so distant that a cry for help. would have to travel through the solar. system for 22 minutes before it was. heard it was the lag in communication. that particularly worried the partners.

and families of the chapia crew all. contact with the habitat would be. delayed by the amount of time that it. would take to beam information hundreds. of millions of miles from Earth to Mars. even the turist exchange how's it going. okay would take 44 minutes but 44. minutes was the best case scenario. because any communication will have to. flow through a single node. every unit of information not just.

messages but surveillance footage audio. recordings experimental and biostatic. Records will have to wait its turn in a. digital queue with precedence given to. the most urgent signals and the smallest. packets of data the upshot was that. anything approaching a normal human. conversation with an Earthling was. Unthinkable the most modest digital. postcard a short grainy video of a child. blowing out a birthday candle. might take weeks to arrive and during.

one 3-week period in the middle of the. experiment representing the farthest. distance more than 250 million miles. between the two planets there would be. no contact at. all Alysa Shannon's partner Jake the. cyber security expert dedicated himself. to gaming the digital traffic snarl I. have to figure out how to make sure my. stuff goes faster than everyone else. he said I know enough about tech to get.

the lowest bit rate possible the lowest. grade image quality will travel faster. black and white instead of color I need. to calculate the smallest transmittable. unit that still me. smiling Nathan Jones emphasized to Nas's. experimenters that he wanted to be kept. as busy as possible he didn't want too. much idle time to worry about his wife. and their sons how when they were having. tough days he wouldn't be able to to. give them dad hugs he didn't want to.

dwell on the Lost band performances. piano recital CrossCountry meets and. soccer games or about how his oldest son. might be 6 in taller by the end of his. Martian. sojourn nor did he care to consider what. his friends in Central Illinois who. responded to the news of his mission. with bafflement and concern might think. that's been the hardest part he said. their jaws hit the floor they asked. Casey why would you let your husband do. this how are you going to be okay this.

looks crazy to a lot of people maybe it. is it's not the kind of thing folks. around here. do Casey alternated among feelings of. anger fear grief defeatism pride and. resolve there were times when she told. Nathan that he shouldn't go or that she. wouldn't let him go as a mother she said. I don't know that I could even consider. leaving my children for a year but. ultimately L she was won over by his.

enthusiasm in the months before the crew. was sealed within the habitat the moment. of Ingress NASA called it Nathan threw. himself into an extensive honeydew list. he worked in the backyard garden. planting tomatoes cucumbers blackberries. melons and strawberries for his family. to harvest in his absence he taught them. how to garden and weed and clip the. hedges after he left for his final month. of training in Houston Casey noticed. that her sons would stand in the yard.

and Survey the plot with their hands on. their hips in subconscious mimicry of. their. father Nathan also renovated two. bathrooms reconstructed the family cars. carburetor replaced fixtures and trimmed. the lower branches of the pine trees he. gave Casey the passwords to their. accounts and detailed directions on how. to file their taxes he taught her how to. use the chainsaw he paid a professional. photographer to take a family portrait.

and over spring break splurged for a. Disney Cruise he drafted birthday and. holiday cards gifts and letters for. every month were halfway there one month. to go he hid additional Post-it notes. under couch cushions and under. mattresses or in places that Casey might. encounter in moments of stress like the. circuit breaker you can do it he wrote. on the note he hid inside his toolbox. you got this final envelope he addressed. to Casey to open on their 15th wedding.

anniversary Jones and Shannon respected. NASA's discretion about the mission but. if they had wanted better to imagine the. next year of their lives they could have. read up on a previous series of Mars. simulations that shared some of chapia. objectives the Hawaii space exploration. analog and simulation high seas. experiment was conducted with NASA. funding between 2013 and 2017 in a domed.

habitat on the reddish slope of the. mount aloa volcano 3,000 ft below the. observatory there that keeps a. continuous measurement of the. concentration of carbon dioxide in our. atmosphere civilians were selected to. live inside the habitat for as long as. 12 months at a time high seas studied. the nutritional and psychosocial. benefits of various meal plans as well. as the vol. behavior and mental acuity and the.

coping strategies they developed to. withstand confined. isolation once upon a time I lived on. Mars a memoir in essays by Kate green. one of High's original crew members. includes chapters titled un boredom un. isolation and dreams of Mars dreams of. earth green describes how the crushing. monotony of the mission changed her. somewhere along the way she writes. mental fatigue had become my Baseline.

State the crew had difficulty sleeping. were disturbed by the constant. monitoring and recording and found that. the scheduled Leisure Time felt a little. forced minor irritations began to Mad. green the sound of sandals on the stairs. the way a crew member grazed her Shin. when Crossing her leg under the table. she found herself desperately missing. quotidian aspects of life on Earth where. she left behind her wife aging parents. and an ailing brother the smell of fresh.

pineapple in a routine sensory test was. enough to make her. cry high seas followed Mars 500 the. longest Mars simulation yet attempted. administered by Russia's ingenuously. nomen clur Institute of biomedical. problems Mars 500 locked six male crew. members together for 520 days between. June 2010 and November 2011 in a faux.

spacecraft and a faux Landing module and. on a faux Mars the Russian experimenters. had hypothesized that over time the. astronauts would lose motivation work. less effectively and suffer intensifying. feelings of isolation from family and. friends after the experiment concluded. the scientists announced that their. hypotheses had been largely confirmed. crew members lost Trust in the. commanders and Mission Control when. Communications grew less frequent.

developed nutritional problems and grew. homesick and depressed the 520 days are. really not easy to get through W Yu a. Chinese participant who lost 22 lb and. much of his hair told China Daily it's. impossible to stay happy all the time. after all I'm human not a. robot despite the consistency of results. the the appetite for Mars simulations. appears insatiable chapia is one of more.

than a dozen current analog experiments. NASA is participating in including Hera. a 650 ft habitat that regularly houses. four participants for as long as 45 days. in confined. isolation since NASA ended its. participation in high seas a. conglomerate of public and private. organizations has staged 12 additional. missions on Mount aloa for nearly a quar.

century the nonprofit Mars Society has. directed research stations in the Utah. desert and on a remote island in. Northern Canada Mars analoges have been. conducted on dome sea of the Antarctic. plateau in a semi-arid tract of. Northeastern Brazil in the northern. Sahara within Austria's dhin ice caves. and in the doar region in the sultanate. of Oman. we've seen similar things happen many. times acknowledges Kelly C Smith a.

philosopher at Clemson University who. specializes in the ethics of space. exploration and advises NASA which has. no ethicists on staff but that doesn't. necessarily mean they're a waste of time. the stakes are higher than in the past. after all we're doing this because we're. planning missions to other. worlds it is likely that the first. travelers to Mars will have a similar. psychological profile to that of Shannon.

Jones and the two other participants. selected by NASA for the crew Ross. Brockwell a public works operations. manager in Chesapeake Virginia and Kelly. haston a stem cell biologist in the San. Francisco Bay Area all four were not. only NASA enthusiasts and in perfect. physical health but habitually sought. out extended periods of isolation. Brockwell well routinely retreated to a. camp he had built on undeveloped land in.

Virginia Living Off the Grid haston is. an ultra marathoner having run some 70. trail races in the last decade including. several hundred MERS loneliness was. something she had read about in books. but never as far as she could recall. experienced a passion for isolation. might have been as important to NASA's. screening process as educational. attainment and blood glucose. levels the chapia participants should.

further benefit from their Devotion to. the cause Louise hawkley an expert on. social isolation at the University of. Chicago emphasizes that psychological. responses are heavily influenced by. whether people choose isolation or have. it thrust upon them a prisoner sentenced. to life would be expected to suffer more. than a monk who takes a vow of silence. but Hawley points out that the particip. loved ones however supportive they might. be lacked the same autonomy even if the.

crew member is fine what happens to the. family Left Behind hawkley wondered if. NASA will study the psychological. effects of the mission on the. families it will not nor did chapia. Architects seem to have a strong grasp. of the history of isolation research in. interviews they discounted the. predictive value of previous experiments. including. C's I don't believe they were doing the. performance metrics that we're doing.

says Grace Douglas chapia principal. investigator who admitted she wasn't. fully familiar with the previous 4-year. experiment our metrics are going to be. at a higher level of detail and more. extensive the resource plan is more. accurate Rachel MCCA was the NASA. official responsible for funding chapia. when asked what she hoped to learn about. human psychology she dismissed the. premise of the question the big reason.

why I funded it she said is because I. need an even more refined answer to the. question how much food does it really. take for a Mars. mission what about the mission's. psychological aspect the monotony the. loneliness I'm a hardware person first. mccol said she is to be precise a solid. propulsion systems engineer she has the. distinction of being the member of our. species who has been most responsible. for determining the best method to.

catapult Humanity to Mars in order to do. so she had to how much weight a. spaceship will carry mcau could estimate. down to the milligram the mass of every. nut and bolt every anti Vortex baffle. and cargo bay door but how many corn. tortillas and yogurt packets will four. astronauts under psychological duress. consume in 378 days that that question. or some version of it was what mcau.

needed answered she also needed to know. how much clothing they'll need clothes. are. heavy maias the isolation historian was. not surprised to learn that the. psychological questions were a secondary. consideration for. NASA but his skeptic ISM about chapia. went further Maas questioned whether any.

experimental rationale could justify yet. another isolation. study I wonder if the scientific value. of these simulation experiments is. beside the point he said the experiments. instead seemed to him a way of willing. the colonization of Mars into being a. form of wish fulfillment or cause. playing to put it less poetically this. is about satisfying an urge there seems. to be a compulsion to keep repeating. these fake Mars missions until we.

actually do it there's something very. beautiful about this idea but also very. macabra at the same. time the analog experiments reflect the. utopian promise of our Martian future. for a human Mission to Mars is not the. highest ambition of the Space Program it. is just the beginning a small step for. mankind before the giant leap of. planetary colonization. 5 months before chia's call for. applications Dennis Bushnell then Chief.

scientist at Nasa Langley Research. Center and a nearly 60-year veteran of. NASA published futures of deep space. exploration commercialization and. colonization the frontiers of the. responsibly. imaginable Martian colonization has. always been imaginable particularly to. this nation of colonizers but in his. paper Bushnell noted that the prospect. effect has in recent years moved from. extremely difficult to increasingly.

feasible colonization has also become. increasingly desirable because of. possibly existential societal issues. including climate change the crashing. ecosystem machines taking the jobs Etc. the ETC perhaps reflective of the. obviousness of planetary. decline a more surprising aspect of the. paper is Bushnell's prediction for how. the physical hostility of Mars will be. overcome colonists will morph into an.

altered species he cites projections. that suggest that Travelers that. colonize Mars will over time due to the. reduced G and radiation exposure evolve. into martians the ultimate promise of. NASA's Mars mission is the chance to. begin again if not exactly as human. beings than as. martians there is a beautiful and. macabra poetry to this. rationalization Utopia after all derives.

from the Greek U not and topos place if. we manage to inhabit the not place of. Mars enjoying a Carefree life of not. problems not regret and not. environmental ruin it makes sense that. we should be not people we should be. martians let people with all their. baggage and fragility and foolishness. stay home. maias likened the incessant Mars analog.

experiments to a traumatic repetition a. compulsion to restage a trauma in an. irrational feudal attempt to undo a. profound damage the urge to try to. recreate a perfect world is always going. to be about rehearsing what we got wrong. here he said we're not chasing Mars. we're mourning. Earth in late May a month before sealing. themselves within the habitat the four. crew members and two alternates reported.

to Houston for a final month of training. and evaluation 3 weeks before the. Ingress NASA hosted a family weekend for. the crew's loved ones the visitors were. given a tour of the Johnson Space Center. they met a real astronaut saw replicas. of spaceships walked around in the red. sandbox that crew members would use for. their space walks and asked questions. directly of chapia lead researcher Grace. Douglas the three Jones boys were proud.

to learn how their father was helping to. shape the future of. humanity but the most valuable part of. the weekend the families agreed was the. chance to meet one another during a. barbecue by the hotel pool they shared. their anxieties about the coming year. they exchanged techniques for managing. stress and pledged to keep in close. contact through a private Facebook. page on Jake har Wood's final evening in. Houston Alysa Shannon prepared a shrimp.

salad in the hotel kitchenette it was. bittersweet the last meal she would fix. in more than a year before leaving. Oakland she had Frozen about a dozen. feasts for Jake and their friends to. enjoyed during her absence she would. miss cooking there would be no pizza on. Mars the couple gazed out the window at. a full moon there would be 13 more Jake. told her before she returned from Mars. he would be counting down the full moons. until they saw each other again they.

awoke at dawn and watched the sunrise. Alyssa drove him to the airport it was. hard to say goodbye Jake said if not as. hard he anticipated as their final phone. call before the Ingress which he. referred to as the big one but Alyssa's. final phone call from Houston came 5. days earlier than he. expected Alyssa announced that NASA had. removed her from the mission the. investigators pulled her into a room and.

told her that she had been excluded from. continuing she would be replaced by one. of the alternates Ana salaru a. microbiologist in the US Navy Alysa did. not know why she had been removed the. investigators refused to tell her she. said they said only that their decision. had not been based on her performance. they added that sometimes in the final. tests before a mission they found. something that was not medically serious.

but might present A Hazard like an. increased risk of kidney stones do I. have an increased risk of kidney stones. Alyssa asked kidney stones was just an. example the investigators insisted but. they refused to say more lest they. compromise the Integrity of the. experiment Alyssa doubted that she had. been torpedoed by a medical condition. she wondered instead if she wasn't. exactly the right mix of introvert and. extrovert they were seeking or perhaps.

they had grown concerned about the. crew's social Dynamic if so Alysa. couldn't say why the investigators she. said told her that she could make up any. excuse she wanted and they wouldn't deny. it but lying is so unsatisfying she said. and you have to remember the lie it's. too challenging I want to go to the. truth there was a reason and they. couldn't tell me what it was. the uncertainty plagued her but not as. much as the loss she felt from the death.

of a dream she had nurtured since the. Lego Martian colonies of her childhood. she couldn't help feeling wounded this. has been hard on my ego she said it's a. big upheaval it's been uncomfortable she. sighed but I have to trust that my. departure is for the best of the mission. by stepping back I'm just serving in a. different. way. her sudden banishment led to some. logistical awkwardness at home when an.

astronaut comes back Kate green wrote. Earth isn't where it was when Alyssa. came back she found herself suddenly. without a job income or home her. hospital had promised her a position in. 13 months but in the meantime someone. had been hired to replace her nor would. NASA pay her the full stipend she had. been promised which she says was about. $60,000 she didn't qualify for.

unemployment benefits and she had rented. her apartment for a year though she knew. she would be able to move in with Jake. they hadn't previously decided to live. together Jake could not disguise his. excitement he met her at the airport and. brought her to his house where they. shared a pizza Alysa an indefatigable. Optimist began brainstorming over dinner. perhaps perhaps she would use the sudden. windfall of free time to set out on a. major backpacking Adventure or a.

CrossCountry road trip maybe she would. begin a new career or maybe she wouldn't. go back to work ever Jake listened. humoring her then with great tenderness. he proposed that she take a couple of. weeks to herself before deciding what to. do with the rest of her. life on the afternoon of Sunday June. 25th the couple opened NASA's YouTube. channel. the four crew members stood on a. platform in front of the habitat they.

wore Black jumpsuits embossed with the. reddish chapia Mission patch Mars Dune. Alpha rendered not inside a Houston. warehouse but at the foot of a Martian. Sierra the same mountain range painted. on the wall of the. sandbox the knowledge we gain here will. help enable us to send humans to Mars. and bring them home safely Grace Douglas. said the crew members expressed their. gratitude to now ASA when anca salaru. said I just can't believe that I'm here.

Alyssa teared up as soon as Nathan Jones. began speaking about his family he broke. down Kelly haston patted to his shoulder. to My Wife and Kids he finally said. through a sob I love you to Mars and. back Douglas opened the door to the. habitat it was not a special hatch with. airlocks or anything it was just a plain. white off door the crew waving entered. Douglas shut the door firmly behind them.

from inside the sealed habitat the crew. could be heard whooping with. joy in Springfield Casey Jones was. watching with her sons she had felt it. was important that she be alone with the. boys without any extended family not. knowing how they would respond to the. sight of their father leaving for a year. in the end the boys were fine Casey was. not but about 22 minutes after the. habitat door closed she received a text.

message it came from Mars I love you. Nathan wrote Casey took a deep breath. we're finally in it she told herself. which means now we can move. forward she took the boys for tacos put. them to sleep and set the alarm clock so. that she had enough time in the morning. to get them ready for camp. at Jake's house in Oakland after Alyssa. closed the laptop there was a moment in.

which they did not know what to do with. themselves they figured Alyssa's family. would worry about her so she put on a. costume space suit and dressed bun bun a. stuffed rabbit that she had planned to. bring to fake Mars in a tiny NASA spacit. Jake snapped portraits and sent them to. her family to let them know she was all. right or at least that once the sting of. missing out on a year on Mars had. subsided she would be all right that. staying on Earth with her recipe.

Collections and Bun Bun and her devoted. partner might not be such a terrible. outcome after all then she baked a whole. wheat sourdough pizza and she and Jake. ate it. [Music]. together.