WEBVTT - Mars Simulation Takes to the HI-SEAS 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.360 Get in text with technology with tech Stuff from has 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:15.120 stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to text Stuff. 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:19.360 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland, and this is the true story, 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.720 true story of six strangers picked to live in a 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.440 dome on a simulated Martian environment to find out what 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:31.560 happens when people stop being polite and start getting real 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:37.520 the real world simulated Mars. All right, guys, So first 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.120 of all, anyone who doesn't recognize what that intro is, 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:43.640 you are among my younger listeners. That was a reference 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:47.440 to MTVS the real world. Today we're doing an episode 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:51.000 that is from a listener request. Listener Jeremiah Wright sent 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:52.920 me a message on Twitter and asked that I cover 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:56.320 a recent experiment aimed at testing what it might be 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:59.720 like to send human explorers to Mars. I was a 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:04.360 pretty project conducted by the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:09.880 Simulation and the acronym is high seas H I DASH 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:14.040 S E A S. So expect lots of pirate voices, 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.480 yar as we talk about going to the Martian landscape. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.520 I'll try and limit that as much as possible. I 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.360 know a lot of you find that cringe worthy, rightly, 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.440 so but hey, we should be in September now, and 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.080 that's talk like a pirate days in September, so we 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.680 have that to look forward to. But yeah, I'm gonna 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:36.000 concentrate on that. Talk about the project, what went into it, 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.000 some of the tech that was involved, why it was 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:41.240 happening in the first place, what they were expecting to 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:42.840 get out of it, and how it all turned out. 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:47.520 So let's uh set the ground first by talking about 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:50.840 what Mars is like and why it's important for us 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:54.240 to simulate as many different scenarios as we possibly can 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:59.360 before going to Mars. If you've seen or read The Martian, 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.720 you probably have some ideas of what Mars must be like. 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:05.480 And uh, for those who have not seen the movie 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.160 or read the book, I highly recommend it. It is 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:12.800 not a scientifically accurate There are some major liberties taken 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.919 in both the novel and the movie. I'd say more 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:17.440 so in the movie than the novel, but both of 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:21.320 them have major liberties. But it is very entertaining and 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:25.520 the science in it in general is pretty good. So 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:27.560 if you have not seen the movie or read the book, 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:32.120 check it out. It's my recommendation. Anyway, you know that 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.680 Mars does not have a breathable atmosphere, has very low 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:39.960 air pressure, has very extreme temperatures. But here are some 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.120 of the liberties that both the film and the novel 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:47.840 talk and these are not spoilers really. One is that, uh, 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:52.360 there are some major wind storms dust storms that play 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:56.240 an important role in both versions of the story, and 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:59.680 the density of the Martian atmosphere is way too low 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:03.200 to have that devastating dust storm happen. The air is 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.720 literally too thin to hold larger particulates. So you could 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.720 have dust blowing around, but it wouldn't be blowing around 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:13.000 in huge amounts and not at such enormous force because 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:16.440 there's just not enough air there. That's it's not dense enough. 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:19.919 And uh so that is problematic, but hey, there had 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:24.040 to be an emergency in the story in order to 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:27.400 get to the the um, the plot point of a 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.800 stranded astronaut left behind on Mars. You had to have 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:36.240 something happen so that you could have the central uh 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:39.600 conflict set up, And so I give it a pass. 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.120 It's not a huge deal breaker, but it wouldn't actually 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.080 happen that way on Mars. Also, the gravity on Mars 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.600 is just thirty eight percent that of Earth's gravity. Mars 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.840 is less massive than Earth, and so it's gravitational pull 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.760 is less than that of Earth. It's greater than the Moon's. 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:58.800 The Moon is about one six and Mars is a 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.680 little more than one third. But that means it would 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.320 also be easier to pick up heavier stuff. So if 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.040 you're an astronaut and you have to pick up something 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:08.720 that weighs more than you typically could carry, you would 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.320 probably be able to lift it without too much trouble. 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:13.720 It might still be very bulky and cumbersome, but you 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:17.120 could lift it, lift it. But it also means as 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.640 you move around, you'd be a lot more bouncy. You 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:25.239 wouldn't just walk across. Uh. The other big, big issue 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:28.880 is that the service of Mars receives way more radiation 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.720 than the surface of Earth. Now, this is due to 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:33.800 a couple of things. One of those is that it 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:38.760 has that thin atmosphere, which does not allow much protection. 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:41.720 Earth's atmosphere is one of the reasons we are so 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:46.880 uh so able to survive. Is trying to find a 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.440 better word for it, but really, the atmosphere provides a 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:51.560 great deal of protection for us, not just the fact 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:55.000 that we breathe the oxygen in the atmosphere, but it 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.800 slows down a lot of radiation or blocks radiation from 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:02.120 getting to us. Another is that Mars does not have 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:06.520 a strong magnetic field like Earth does. Our magnetic field 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.760 also protects us from other types of radiation, and Mars 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.440 lacks that. So if you were on the surface of Mars, 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.560 you would be subjected to way more radiation than you 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.160 would encounter here on Earth. And uh, we humans don't 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:21.599 deal with that too well. All right, So a little 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.400 bit more about Mars. Besides those issues I had with 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:28.320 the Martian, UH, Mars's atmosphere being so thin means that 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:31.520 liquid water doesn't tend to exist on its surface for 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:35.599 very long. There may be liquid water underneath the surface 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:39.600 of the soil, especially since it mixes with some other 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:43.120 stuff that lowers the freezing point of water, but most 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:45.880 water is going to end up freezing. Um, it's not 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:48.320 going to stay in liquid form for very long. The 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:52.960 atmosphere is primarily carbon dioxide and bike primarily I'm talking 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.800 of the atmosphere is c O two, which is not 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:01.000 great for us. Uh. Nitrogen makes less than two percent 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.159 of the atmosphere on Mars. Here on Earth. Nitrogen is 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:07.800 the most plentiful element in our atmosphere, accounts for seventy 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:12.800 of our atmosphere, and oxygen, which on Earth is like 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.240 of our atmosphere, is only found in trace amounts in 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.359 the Martian atmosphere, so you would not be able to breathe. 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.200 Even if the atmosphere were more thick than it is, 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:25.479 you wouldn't be able to breathe there because there's not 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:30.280 enough oxygen to support life from Earth on Mars, at 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.680 least not life like us. There's some life forms that 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:37.560 would do all right in that environment if you ignored 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:43.680 other factors like the radiation. Now not not everyone says 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:49.039 that carbon carbon dioxide rich atmosphere is necessarily a bad thing. 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:52.479 Some scientists have actually suggested we might use the CEO 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.400 two in the atmosphere to help generate rocket fuel for 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.160 a return trip to Earth, which would be an enormous 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.000 help because that means we would only have to carry 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:02.440 half as much fuel as we would need for a 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:04.919 round trip. Right, we would just take the fuel we 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:08.640 need to get to Mars and then create the fuel 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.760 we need to get back to Earth while we're on Mars, 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:16.160 and weight in space launches is a deal breaker. If 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:19.160 you get too much weight, it becomes too difficult and 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:21.920 too expensive. So you want to limit the amount of 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.440 weight as much as you can when you're sending stuff 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:28.600 out into space so that you don't hit that critical 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:33.080 point where it's just too difficult and too expensive to do. So. 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.720 If we were able to make our fuel on Mars 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:38.280 for the return turn trip home, that would be enormous. 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:40.560 Of course, you could also plan a trip to Mars 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.000 where there is no return trip home. It's a one 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:46.840 way ticket, and in fact, there are some uh some 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.880 projects that have been proposed that essentially would be that 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:51.880 it would be a one way trip to Mars and 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:53.720 that's where you would live out the rest of your life, 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:58.040 which possibly would not be that much longer because Mars 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.680 is a very hostile environment. But assuming you want to 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:04.360 get back, being able to make rocket fuel on the 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:08.520 surface of Mars is a pretty good deal. Now, I 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.520 said that temperatures on Mars have a pretty wide range, 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.720 and it is incredibly wide. It goes from about seventy 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.600 degrees fahrenheit, which is twenty degrees celsius, down to negative 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:22.280 two hundred twenty five degrees fahrenheit or negative one fifty 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:26.400 three degrees celsius, so a Martian winter at night gets 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:31.800 awful chilly. Obviously, we would want to locate any habitats 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.200 that we would put on Mars in and a probably 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:38.400 a belt closest to the most stable temperature on the 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:40.800 planet um and if we were to go there, we'd 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:42.320 have to be there for a really long time. I 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:44.240 didn't really put this in my notes, but I can 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.880 talk about it. The orbits of Earth and Mars are 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:52.720 such that at certain points they are fairly close together, 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.360 or at least as close as they get, and then 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:58.640 as they continue their orbits they start to spread apart. 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.880 So if you think of Earth as a circle, you 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:05.560 know that is the orbit of Earth. That's one circle, 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.000 and then a slightly larger circle on the outside is Mars. 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.480 And then you just imagine how they're both traveling at 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:15.120 different speeds, so they start to spread apart. Eventually you 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:16.760 get to a point where Earth and Mars are on 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:19.480 opposite sides of the Sun from each other, and then 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.400 if you go long enough, they line up again. Well, 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.400 when you are launching stuff to get from Earth to Mars, 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:28.120 you want to travel the least amount of distance possible. 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:30.000 It's just like I was talking about with the weight. 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:32.040 The weight is going to be an issue and the 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:36.000 distance is an issue. So you want to fire your 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:40.160 rockets so that the pathway that the rocket takes is 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:43.640 the least amount of distance. And that doesn't mean waiting 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:46.920 until Earth and Mars are closest, because it's an eight 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.960 month journey to get from around eight months to get 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:53.400 from Earth to two Mars, so you actually have to 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:56.040 shoot ahead of time. It's it's that idea. You're not 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:58.600 shooting where Mars is, You're shooting where Mars is going 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:02.560 to be. And this involves a lot of complicated math, 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:07.040 knowing about the planetary orbits and just the geometry involved, 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.440 and making sure that you are conserving as much fuel 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.760 as possible. Same thing on the return trip. So if 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:15.840 you were to land on Mars, by the time you 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:18.520 landed on Mars, Earth and Mars would no longer be 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:21.480 ideally situated. You would have to wait for them to 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.280 line up again, and that can take a long time, 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:28.440 like about two years, essentially more than a year and 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.120 um and that means that if you're gonna land on Mars, 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.400 you're gonna be there for a while. Assuming that you 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.840 are being very careful with your fuel. If somehow fuel 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:41.280 is no longer an issue, like we've magically created cold 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:44.959 fusion or something, uh, then that would not be You 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:46.840 wouldn't have to worry about it as much. You would 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:50.120 have more time in space itself, because you would still 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.280 have to travel a long distance from Mars back to Earth, 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:55.760 but you wouldn't have to worry about waiting for the 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:58.960 opportune time, that window when the distance is going to 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:04.720 be at the smallest amount. All right, getting back to Mars, 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:08.680 the regulars on Mars, which is the soil on Mars, 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.680 could be very problematic to the Phoenix Lander discovered traces 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:16.440 of perchlorate in the regulars. Uh. This is a salt 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:20.600 derived from perchloric acid. On the plus side, that stuff 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:24.080 can be used as a propellant like an oxidizing agent 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.280 within rocket fuel, So again, you could use this stuff 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:29.760 to help create rocket fuel on the surface of Mars 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:32.440 along with the carbon dioxide that you're taking from the atmosphere. 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:36.080 So that's kind of cool. But on the downside, perchlorate 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.880 can have a toxic effect on humans, particularly when it 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:43.120 comes to the thyroid gland, so you'd have to be careful, 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:47.080 like if you if you've been keeping count, the radiation 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:50.920 will kill you, the atmosphere will kill you, the uh 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.400 temperatures could kill you, and the soil will kill you 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.160 on Mars. Mars is trying to kill you really hard. 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:01.240 So it's another and you have to take into account 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:04.959 if you're going to send human beings there. However, all 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:07.480 that being said, the Martian soil also seems to contain 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.720 nutrients that are necessary to grow plants, and in fact, 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:15.800 NASA has conducted several experiments using simulated Martian soil because 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.000 we've never we've never taken a sample from Mars and 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:24.280 brought it back to Earth, right, so we've simulated Martian 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:29.120 soil using soil primarily from places like Hawaii around volcanic planes, 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:32.240 which is again that's gonna go back to the simulated 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:34.080 habitat we're going to talk about in just a minute. 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:36.600 So they've taken that soil and they tried to grow 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.360 stuff in it, and they've been successful with those experiments. 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:44.400 Both NASA and other facilities have grown crops and so 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:46.520 it looks like we would be able to do the 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:49.839 same on Mars. Now if we were to do that, 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.520 we would have to have the plants inside a habitat 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:54.800 because you would have to have the air pressure there 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:58.679 to allow liquid water to exist, and we would need 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:02.080 to leach the purchlor at out of the soil in 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.200 order to make sure that it's not going to affect 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:07.559 the plants. But that's something we could do. It's not 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.360 it's not impossible. It's not even really that difficult. We 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:12.040 could do it. It would take some effort, but we 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.640 could do it. And you would probably have to add 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:16.679 some fertilizer to the soil to make sure it has 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:20.640 plentiful nutrients for plant life, because Mars has not had 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:24.080 any life on it. If it ever has had life 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:27.160 on it, it's been a really really long time, so 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:29.520 you would have to you know, you don't have that cycle, 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:34.040 that nitrogen cycle, the carbon cycle, all that stuff that 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.960 allows for plant life to flourish here on Earth. That 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:40.120 hasn't been going on on Mars in a very long time, 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:42.040 if in fact, it ever has happened. So we would 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:44.800 have to add fertilizer to the soil, but it would 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:49.520 probably work. So that's super cool. All right, let's get 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:54.520 into the experiment simulating life on Mars. Here on Earth 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.959 is problematic, very tricky, right, because for one thing, all 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.160 the elements I just mentioned we cannot really replicate here 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:04.360 on Earth, nor would we want to. It would actually 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.280 put people in serious danger. We would want to engineer 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:12.160 as many solutions to problems as we possibly could here 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:17.000 on Earth without actually subjecting people to really dangerous conditions 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:18.800 until we got to a point where we were really 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.840 confident that the solutions we had created would protect people 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.480 from those conditions. You know, once you get to that rate, 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.680 that that level, you will find people willing to take 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:30.720 on that risk. I mean, if we didn't have people 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:34.280 like that, then test flight engineers would never happen, right, 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.080 We would never get test pilots, who are some of 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:39.400 the craziest people on the planet. And I say that 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:43.680 with respect the the You know, they take enormous risks 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.600 in experimental aircraft and push it to the limit in 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:51.880 order to advance our engineering and scientific knowledge, which is 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:55.120 amazing to me. The same thing is true for astronauts, 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:56.880 same thing is true for people who are testing the 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:00.320 equipment that are ventrally. Astronauts will rely upon to keep 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:04.080 them alive. But we don't have to worry about radiation. 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.680 The way we would on Mars. Uh. The atmosphere is 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:10.080 perfectly fine here on Earth. It's not like we've got 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:13.280 to some place. There's not like a region on the 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:16.880 planet where the atmosphere is really dangerous or we don't 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:21.000 have the potentially toxic soil. I mean, in some extreme environments, 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:24.440 you could have toxic soil and dangerous atmospheric conditions, especially 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:29.840 around really polluted areas. But typically on Earth we're we're 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:32.840 pretty okay in those realms. Uh. And it would be 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:37.040 pretty unethical to subject anyone to staying in a really 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:41.520 dangerous zone just for the sake of experimentation. But the 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:45.480 goal of high seas isn't to create a perfect representation 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:47.400 of what it would be like to live on Mars. 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:51.360 It's not meant to subject people to the extremes of 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.200 the environment. It's really to discover the best ways to 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:58.920 keep a crew healthy and happy as they live in isolation. So, yeah, 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:01.240 the crew had to be shave as if they were 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.880 on Mars. You know, they had to behave as if 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:08.640 all of those conditions were in play. But more importantly, 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.440 they had to figure out how to design a habitat 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:15.640 and a series of missions to make sure the crew 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.520 could coexist and cooperate throughout the duration of the mission, 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:22.640 over months and months of time. So how do you 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:26.440 keep people from succumbing to loneliness or irritability? How do 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:28.800 you make sure they get the nutrition they need to 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:32.680 stay healthy and active. That was the real experiment, not 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:36.440 so much the technology side, but the psychology side. And 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.240 it all began as a collaboration between a whole bunch 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:43.640 of different companies and research organizations and colleges. So here's 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:46.320 the full list, and it's pretty long. You got the 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:51.480 University of Hawaii, You've got Cornell, You've got Michigan State University, 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:55.920 Arizona State University, the University of South Florida, the University 0:16:55.920 --> 0:17:01.800 of Maryland, the Institutes for Behavior Resources, Smart Information Flow Technologies, 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:07.320 Blue Planet Foundation, Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:12.480 and NASA. And the result was that high seas organization, 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.560 and they had plotted out exactly where they wanted to 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:19.639 put this experimental habitat in a place that would closely 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:24.679 resemble the surface of Mars and essentially abandoned people for 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.640 months at a time, not really abandoned people, I'll get 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:33.560 more into that, but really limit the interaction people could 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:38.159 have with anyone outside of the habitat itself. So the 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:41.960 experiment site is on the volcano of mounta Loa on 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:45.240 the Big Island of Hawaii. And I'm being obnoxious the 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:48.480 way I pronounced these things largely because the Big Island 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:52.480 of Hawaii is my favorite place to visit. I have 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:57.960 been there multiple occasions, and it is probably the slowest 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:00.800 island in the chain as far as like all the 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:05.560 ones that people go to for tourists purposes. Oahu is 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.719 where Honolulu is, That's where the major airport is, That's 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:11.920 where the major city is. Uh. You've got Kawaii, which 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.760 is gorgeous, uh and tiny and and they shot a 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.600 lot of Lost on Kawaii and uh, it's beautiful, but 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:23.159 a little touristy. It's a little small touristy section. And 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:25.520 then you've got Maui, which is like the resort island. 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:28.480 I've been to Oahu, I've been to those islands, and 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:32.080 Big Island. Big Island to me is my favorite. It 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:34.119 is a little more laid back, and it has a 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:42.000 lot of different ecosystems, from rocky beaches to rainforest to grassland. 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:47.040 Two snow on top of the volcanic peaks, including Mount 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.240 a Looa. Mounta Loa gets snow at the top of 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:52.359 it at the higher elevations. It is not the tallest 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:57.240 of the volcanoes on the big island. The tallest would 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:01.240 be Mount a kia Um And also it can be 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:06.000 confused with Killaueya. Kilauea is the the volcano you would 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:08.360 really be looking at if you went to the Volcanic 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.479 National Park and you were looking at the lava flows 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:14.400 uh that are either coming from event or going out 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:18.720 or rift into the ocean. That's Kilauea on on one 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:21.639 side of the island. But the biggest of all the volcanoes, 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:25.440 the largest in in just sheer size, is Mount Loa 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:30.679 and it is an active volcano. So this experiment is 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:35.080 located on an active volcano. Now that being said, eruptions 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:38.959 are rarely violent. They do happen, but the eruptions are 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:43.320 more like lava flowing out of the volcano, or almost 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.360 like it's leaking out of the volcano, not being propelled 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:49.040 up in a big flume like you would think in 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:52.720 a traditional volcanic eruption. It tends to flow from the 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:56.679 summit down towards the edges of the island and what 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:59.600 is often called the curtain of fire. There are these 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.080 rift in the earth and they act almost like channels 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:08.520 where the lava will flow through. Uh. While the eruption 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:11.960 itself can be relatively nonviolent, they're still pretty destructive, right, 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:15.320 Like you can have a slow moving lava flow that 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:20.040 will cause real damage to property. It's rare that anyone 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:22.679 gets hurt in these things because the lava moves at 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:26.920 a walking pace. It's not going super fast. I think 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.560 it hasn't been since the nineteen thirties since someone was 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:33.760 injured by an eruption. Everyone tends to be able to 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:36.040 get all the way in time and evacuated. But it 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:39.439 does cause damage because you know, homes don't move, and 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:41.879 a f lava flow encounters a house, then you know 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:45.880 you've just got a fire on your hands. But it's 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:49.720 generally a pretty safe place you get. You aren't expected 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:53.840 to have a like sudden eruption that's going to put 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:57.800 you into danger. The site for the simulated Martian habitat 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.400 is located at about eight thousand feet elevation on Manta Loa, 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:05.159 the summit of the volcano. If you were to go 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:07.760 at the very top is thirteen thousand, six d seventy 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:11.160 nine feet, so this is a little more than halfway 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:15.159 up the full height of the volcano, and it's on 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:22.040 a slope um that keeps it fairly level. For comparison sake, 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:25.000 the primary observing side of the Mantala Observatory is at 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:28.280 eleven thousand onety one feet of elevation, so the mantal 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:31.800 Loa Observatory is higher up. But don't confuse that with 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:35.919 the Manta Chia observatories. Those are astronomical research facilities on 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:38.480 the taller peak of Monachia to the north of mantal 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:43.119 Looa's summit. Mantal Looa's observatory is an atmospheric observatory, primarily 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:46.160 keeping an eye on CEO two levels in our atmosphere. Now, 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:48.919 the habitat itself is in an abandoned quarry on the 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:51.760 northern slope of Mountaloa. The team picked that site because 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:54.639 it has very little vegetation. It looks like the surface 0:21:54.680 --> 0:22:00.440 of Mars. It's this rocky barren kind of of area. Uh, 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:03.360 there are no rare or an endangered species that make 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:05.840 it a home, so there was no chance of having 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:10.080 a negative impact on an endangered species, and so you 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:14.040 would also have a fairly accurate representation of Mars, and 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.879 you would not be bringing harm to any threatened species. Also, 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:21.800 there are no cultural or archaeological sites in that area, 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:24.720 so the team wouldn't be causing any harm to something 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:30.040 of cultural or historical value, which I think is incredibly intelligent. Um, 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:34.880 the Hawaiian people have a very rich history. Their culture 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:39.639 is phenomenal and of course, uh the the European explorers 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:43.600 who came in had a huge impact on that culture. 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:48.160 So trying to not make it, trying not to endanger 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:53.439 that rich history more is really important from a sociological standpoint. 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:56.159 If you ever get a chance to look into their culture, 0:22:56.280 --> 0:22:59.800 really you should do it because it is it is 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:07.679 beautiful and incredibly fascinating culture. So the habitat itself was 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:13.560 designed by V. Paul Punte of the Envisioned Design and 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:17.040 it was built by the Blue Planet Foundation of Honolulu, 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:19.800 and it's super duper cool, you guys. So it's a 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:23.360 geodesic dome that's the main habitat, a geodesic dome that's 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:26.160 thirty six ft in diameter and it has two stories. 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:30.119 The volume inside the dome is thirteen thousand, five hundred 0:23:30.240 --> 0:23:34.720