WEBVTT - Techstuff Classic: Mars Simulation Takes to the HI-SEAS 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:13.880 stuff Works dot com. Hey everybody, welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:17.600 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland, and today is another Saturday 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.360 Morning rerun episode where we take a classic episode of 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:22.279 tech Stuff that you might not have had a chance 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:24.720 to hear and present it to you so you can 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:29.320 enjoy it. Today, we're gonna talk about the Mars simulation 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:34.960 that took place in Hawaii. This was a simulated Martian habitat, 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:37.640 something that we would build on the surface of Mars 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:40.080 if we were to go there. The whole purpose of 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:44.400 this experiment was to see if the technology would work 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:47.920 and if people could, you know, hold themselves together for 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.519 the year of isolation that would take place if you 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.000 were to actually travel to the Red planet. Now, this 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:59.600 episode originally published on September two thousand sixteen, and The 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.040 Anman had just ended at that point, So we're going 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:07.000 to revisit this topic and talk all about what it 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.399 takes to do a simulation like this, and I hope 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:14.000 you guys enjoy today. We're doing an episode that is 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:17.440 from a listener request. Listener Jeremiah Right sent me a 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:19.639 message on Twitter and asked that I cover a recent 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:23.000 experiment aimed at testing what it might be like to 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:27.400 send human explorers to Mars as a project conducted by 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:32.800 the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation and the acronym 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:37.960 is High Seas HI DASH S E A S. So 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:42.440 expect lots of pirate voices yar as we talk about 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:46.560 going to the Martian landscape. I'll try and limit that 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:48.360 as much as possible. I know a lot of you 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:52.400 find that cringe worthy, rightly so, but hey, we should 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.680 be in September now, and let's talk like a pirate 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.200 days in September, so we have that to look forward to. 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:01.160 But yeah, I'm gonna concentrate on that. Talk about the project, 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.040 what went into it, some of the tech that was involved, 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:06.640 why it was happening in the first place, what they 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:08.320 were expecting to get out of it, and how it 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:12.680 all turned out. So let's uh set the ground first 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:16.200 by talking about what Mars is like and why it's 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:19.440 important for us to simulate as many different scenarios as 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.919 we possibly can before going to Mars. If you've seen 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.440 or read The Martian, you probably have some ideas of 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.560 what Mars must be like, and uh, for those who 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:32.480 have not, seen the movie or read the book, I 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:36.880 highly recommend it. It is not a scientifically accurate There 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:40.640 are some major liberties taken in both the novel and 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:42.680 the movie. I'd say more so in the movie than 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:45.160 the novel, but both of them have major liberties. But 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:49.160 it is very entertaining and the science in it in 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.639 general is pretty good. So if you have not seen 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:55.119 the movie or read the book, check it out. It's 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:59.240 my recommendation. Anyway, you know that Mars does not have 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:03.560 a breathable atmosphere, has very low air pressure, has very 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.960 extreme temperatures. But here are some of the liberties that 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:10.000 both the film and the novel took, and these are 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:14.560 not spoilers really. One is that, uh, there are some 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:19.600 major wind storms dust storms that play an important role 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:23.080 in both versions of the story, and the density of 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.720 the Martian atmosphere is way too low to have that 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.160 devastating dust storm happen. The air is literally too thin 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:34.080 to hold larger particulates, So you could have dust blowing around, 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:36.840 but it wouldn't be blowing around in huge amounts and 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.320 not at such enormous force because there's just not enough 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:44.080 air there. That's it's not dense enough and uh, so 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.360 that is problematic, but hey, there had to be an 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:51.440 emergency in the story in order to get to the 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:55.600 the the plot point of a stranded astronaut left behind 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:58.840 on Mars. You had to have something happen so that 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:03.880 you could have the central uh conflict set up. And 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.600 so I give it a pass. It's not a huge 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:11.080 deal breaker, but it wouldn't actually happen that way on Mars. Also, 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:13.680 the gravity on Mars is just thirty eight percent that 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:17.359 of Earth's gravity. Mars is less massive than Earth, and 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:20.520 so it's gravitational pull is less than that of Earth. 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:23.120 It's greater than the Moon's. The Moon is about one 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:26.280 six and Mars is a little more than one third. 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:28.560 But that means it would also be easier to pick 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.200 up heavier stuff. So if you're an astronaut and you 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:33.359 have to pick up something that weighs more than you 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.200 typically could carry, you would probably be able to lift 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:38.359 it without too much trouble. It might still be very 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:41.720 bulky and cumbersome, but you could lift it, lift it. 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:44.039 But it also means as you move around, you'd be 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:48.360 a lot more bouncy. You wouldn't just walk across. UH. 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:52.599 The other big big issue is that the service of 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:57.080 Mars receives way more radiation than the surface of Earth. Now, 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:58.919 this is due to a couple of things. One of 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.560 those is that it has that thin atmosphere, which does 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:06.359 not allow much protection. Earth's atmosphere is one of the 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:12.240 reasons we are so uh so able to survive. Is 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:13.839 trying to find a better word for it, but really, 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.640 the atmosphere provides a great deal of protection for us, 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.160 not just the fact that we breathe the oxygen in 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:23.480 the atmosphere, but it slows down a lot of radiation 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.840 or blocks radiation from getting to us. Another is that 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:30.640 Mars does not have a strong magnetic field like Earth does. 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.640 Our magnetic field also protects us from other types of radiation, 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.560 and Mars lacks that. So if you were on the 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:40.360 surface of Mars, you would be subjected to way more 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:44.200 radiation than you would encounter here on Earth. And uh 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:47.000 we humans don't deal with that too well. All right, 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:49.720 So a little bit more about Mars. Besides those issues 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:53.240 I had with the Martian, uh, Mars's atmosphere being so 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.560 thin means that liquid water doesn't tend to exist on 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.200 its surface for very long. There may be liquid water 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:04.880 underneath the surface of the soil, especially since it mixes 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.200 with some other stuff that lowers the freezing point of water. 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:11.479 But most water is going to end up freezing. Um, 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:13.640 it's not going to stay in liquid form for very long. 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:18.480 The atmosphere is primarily carbon dioxide and bike primarily I'm 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:22.560 talking of the atmosphere is c O two, which is 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:26.360 not great for us. UH. Nitrogen makes up less than 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.080 two percent of the atmosphere on Mars. Here. On Earth, 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:33.160 nitrogen is the most plentiful element in our atmosphere accounts 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:38.320 for seventy of our atmosphere, and oxygen, which on Earth 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:42.479 is like of our atmosphere, is only found in trace 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:45.440 amounts in the Martian atmosphere, So you would not be 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.280 able to breathe. Even if the atmosphere were more thick 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.600 than it is, you wouldn't be able to breathe there 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:54.760 because there's not enough oxygen to support life UH from 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:58.560 Earth on Mars, at least not life like us. There's 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:01.120 some life forms that would do all right in that 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:07.120 environment if you ignored other factors like the radiation. Now 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:12.960 not not everyone says that carbon carbon dioxide rich atmosphere 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:17.000 is necessarily a bad thing. Some scientists have actually suggested 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:19.440 we might use the CEO two in the atmosphere to 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.559 help generate rocket fuel for a return trip to Earth, 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:24.840 which would be an enormous help because that means we 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.560 would only have to carry half as much fuel as 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:29.640 we would need for a round trip. Right, we would 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:31.920 just take the fuel we need to get to Mars 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:35.440 and then create the fuel we need to get back 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:39.840 to Earth while we're on Mars. And weight in space 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.040 launches is a deal breaker. If you get too much weight, 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.680 it becomes too difficult and too expensive. So you want 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:48.600 to limit the amount of weight as much as you 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.520 can when you're sending stuff out into space so that 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.160 you don't hit that critical point where it's just too 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.240 difficult and too expensive to do so, if we were 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:02.360 able to make our full on Mars for then turn 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:04.920 trip home, that would be enormous. Of course, you could 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.320 also plan a trip to Mars where there is no 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.400 return trip home. It's a one way ticket, and in fact, 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:14.280 there are some uh some projects that have been proposed 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:16.560 that essentially would be that it would be a one 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:18.480 way trip to Mars and that's where you would live 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.000 out the rest of your life, which possibly would not 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:25.160 be that much longer because Mars is a very hostile environment. 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.880 But assuming you want to get back, being able to 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:31.400 make rocket fuel on the surface of Mars is a 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:35.680 pretty good deal. Now, I said that temperatures on Mars 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:39.400 have a pretty wide range, and it is incredibly wide. 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:41.920 It goes from about seventy degrees fahrenheit, which is twenty 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:46.040 degrees celsius, down to negative two hundred twenty five degrees 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:50.160 fahrenheit or negative one fifty three degrees celsius. So a 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:55.080 Martian winter at night gets awfull chili. Obviously, we would 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.400 want to locate any habitats that we would put on 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.800 Mars in and a probably a belt closest to the 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:05.680 most stable temperature on the planet um, and if we 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:07.040 were to go there, we'd have to be there for 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.160 a really long time. I didn't really put this in 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:11.960 my notes, but I can talk about it. The orbits 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:15.760 of Earth and Mars are such that at certain points 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.440 they are fairly close together, or at least as close 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:23.000 as they get, and then as they continue their orbits 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:26.280 they start to spread apart. So if you think of 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.680 Earth as a circle, you know that is the orbit 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.280 of Earth that's one circle and then a slightly larger 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.840 circle on the outside is Mars. And then you just 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:39.120 imagine how they're both traveling at different speeds, so they 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:41.360 start to spread apart. Eventually you get to a point 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:43.440 where Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.040 Sun from each other, and then if you go long enough, 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:49.480 they line up again. Well, when you are launching stuff 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:51.920 to get from Earth to Mars, you want to travel 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.400 the least amount of distance possible. It's just like I 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:56.920 was talking about with the weight. The weight is going 0:09:56.960 --> 0:09:58.680 to be an issue and the distance is an issue. 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:04.239 So you to fire your rockets so that the pathway 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.040 that the rocket takes is the least amount of distance. 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:11.120 And that doesn't mean waiting until Earth and Mars are closest, 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:14.480 because it's an eight month journey to get from around 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:18.360 eight months to get from Earth to two Mars, so 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:20.720 you actually have to shoot ahead of time. It's it's 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.079 that idea you're not shooting where Mars is, You're shooting 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:27.040 where Mars is going to be. And this involves a 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:30.760 lot of complicated math, knowing about the planetary orbits and 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:34.960 just the geometry involved and making sure that you are 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.520 conserving as much fuel as possible. Same thing on the 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:40.840 return trip. So if you were to land on Mars, 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.120 by the time you landed on Mars, Earth and Mars 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:46.280 would no longer be ideally situated. You would have to 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:48.480 wait for them to line up again, and that can 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:52.640 take a long time, like about two years, essentially more 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.679 than a year and um. And that means that if 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:57.600 you're gonna land on Mars, you're gonna be there for 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:01.680 a while, assuming that you are being very careful with 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:04.600 your fuel. If somehow fuel is no longer an issue, 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:09.040 like we've magically created cold fusion or something, uh, then 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.520 that would not be You wouldn't have to worry about 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:14.560 it as much. You would have more time in space itself, 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.520 because you would still have to travel a long distance 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:19.839 from Mars back to Earth, but you wouldn't have to 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:23.520 worry about waiting for the opportune time, that window when 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:26.559 the distance is going to be at the smallest amount. 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:32.120 All right, getting back to Mars. The regulus on Mars, 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:36.000 which is the soil on Mars, could be very problematic 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.560 to the Phoenix Lander discovered traces of perclorate in the 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.760 regulars UH. This is a salt derived from perchloric acid. 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:46.760 On the plus side, that stuff can be used as 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:51.280 a propellant, like an oxidizing agent within rocket fuel, So again, 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.240 you could use this stuff to help create rocket fuel 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:56.640 on the surface of Mars along with the carbon dioxide 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:00.080 that you're taking from the atmosphere. So that's kind of cool. 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.480 But on the downside, Perkler, it can have a toxic 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:06.000 effect on humans, particularly when it comes to the thyroid gland, 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:09.920 so you'd have to be careful, Like if you if 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:13.760 you've been keeping count, the radiation will kill you, the 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:18.280 atmosphere will kill you, the uh temperatures could kill you, 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:20.920 and the soil will kill you on Mars. Mars is 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:25.559 trying to kill you really hard, so it's another thing 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:27.400 you have to take into account if you're going to 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.160 send human beings there. However, all that being said, the 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:34.880 Martian soil also seems to contain nutrients that are necessary 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:37.760 to grow plants, and in fact, NASA has conducted several 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:42.640 experiments using simulated Martian soil because we've never we've never 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:46.440 taken a sample from Mars and brought it back to Earth, right, 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:52.120 so we've simulated Martian soil using soil primarily from places 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:56.520 like Hawaii around volcanic planes, which is again that's gonna 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:58.840 go back to the simulated habitat we're gonna talk about 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.319 in just a minute. So they've taken that soil and 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:03.199 they tried to grow stuff in it, and they've been 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:07.480 successful with those experiments. Both NASA and other facilities have 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:11.240 grown crops, and so it looks like we would be 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.520 able to do the same on Mars. Now, if we 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:16.320 were to do that, we would have to have the 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.200 plants inside a habitat because you would have to have 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:22.000 the air pressure there to allow liquid water to exist, 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.240 and we would need to leach the purcolorate out of 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:29.920 the soil in order to make sure that it's not 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:32.280 going to affect the plants. But that's something we could do. 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.640 It's not it's not impossible. It's not even really that difficult. 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:37.360 We could do it. It It would take some effort, but 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:39.800 we could do it, and you would probably have to 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:41.880 add some fertilizer to the soil to make sure it 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.600 has plentiful nutrients for plant life. Because Mars has not 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:49.200 had any life on it. If it ever has had 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.680 life on it, it's been a really, really long time, 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:54.320 So you would have to you know, you don't have 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:58.320 that cycle, that nitrogen cycle, the carbon cycle, all that 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:03.000 stuff that allow for plant life to flourish here on Earth. 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:05.040 That hasn't been going on on Mars in a very 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.080 long time, if in fact, it ever has happened. So 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:09.800 we would have to add fertilizer to the soil, but 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:14.120 it would probably work. So that's super cool. All right, 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:19.480 let's get into the experiment. Simulating life on Mars here 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.920 on Earth is problematic, very tricky, right because for one thing, 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:26.680 all of the elements I just mentioned we cannot really 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:29.120 replicate here on Earth, nor would we want to. It 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.800 would actually put people in serious danger. We would want 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:36.080 to engineer as many solutions to problems as we possibly 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:40.880 could here on Earth without actually subjecting people to really 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.680 dangerous conditions until we got to a point where we 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:47.480 were really confident that the solutions we had created would 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.280 protect people from those conditions. You know, once you get 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.520 to that that that level, you will find people willing 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:55.560 to take on that risk. I mean, if we didn't 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:59.560 have people like that, then test flight engineers would never happen, right, 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.280 We would never to get test pilots who are some 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:04.560 of the craziest people on the planet. And I say 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:09.000 that with respect the you know, they take enormous risks 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:11.920 in experimental aircraft and push it to the limit in 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:17.200 order to advance our engineering and scientific knowledge, which is 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:20.400 amazing to me. The same thing is true for astronauts, 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.160 same thing is true for people who are testing the 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.600 equipment that are ventrally. Astronauts will rely upon to keep 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:29.400 them alive. But we don't have to worry about radiation 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:32.960 the way we would on mars Um. The atmosphere is 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:35.360 perfectly fine here on Earth. It's not like we've got 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.600 a some place. There's not like a region on the 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:42.160 planet where the atmosphere is really dangerous, or we don't 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:46.280 have the potentially toxic soil. I mean, in some extreme environments, 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.680 you could have toxic soil and dangerous atmospheric conditions, especially 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:55.120 around really polluted areas. But typically on Earth we're we're 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:58.120 pretty okay in those realms. Uh. And it would be 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:01.520 pretty unethical to subject in you one to staying in 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:05.480 a really dangerous zone just for the sake of experimentation. 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.720 But the goal of high seas isn't to create a 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:12.120 perfect representation of what it would be like to live 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:15.680 on Mars. It's not meant to subject people to the 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:19.080 extremes of the environment. It's really to discover the best 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:22.120 ways to keep a crew healthy and happy as they 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:25.440 live in isolation. So yeah, the crew had to behave 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:28.240 as if they were on Mars, you know, they had 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:32.560 to behave as if all of those conditions were in play. 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.400 But more importantly, they had to figure out how to 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:40.200 design a habitat and a series of missions to make 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:44.120 sure the crew could coexist and cooperate throughout the duration 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:47.520 of the mission, over months and months of time. So 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:51.400 how do you keep people from succumbing to loneliness or irritability? 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:53.680 How do you make sure they get the nutrition they 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:57.239 need to stay healthy and active. That was the real experiment, 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.960 not so much the technology side, but the PSYE collegey side, 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:04.000 And it all began as a collaboration between a whole 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:08.240 bunch of different companies and research organizations and colleges. So 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.440 here's the full list, and it's pretty long. You got 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:15.240 the University of Hawaii, You've got Cornell, You've got Michigan 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:20.440 State University, Arizona State University, University of South Florida, the 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:25.800 University of Maryland, the Institutes for Behavior Resources, Smart Information 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:31.199 Flow Technologies, Blue Planet Foundation, Pacific International Space Center for 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:35.919 Exploration Systems, and NASA, and the result was that High 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:40.280 Seas organization, and they had plotted out exactly where they 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:43.119 wanted to put this experimental habitat in a place that 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:48.920 would closely resemble the surface of Mars and essentially abandoned 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:53.399 people for months at a time, not really abandoned people, 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:58.119 I'll get more into that, but really limit the interaction 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:01.320 people could have with anyone outside of the habitat itself. 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:06.159 So the experiment site is on the volcano of mounta 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:09.680 Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii. And I'm being 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:13.040 obnoxious the way I pronounced these things, largely because the 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:17.119 Big Island of Hawaii is my favorite place to visit. 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.600 I have been there multiple occasions, and it is probably 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:25.679 the slowest island in the chain as far as like 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:30.320 all the ones that people go to for tourists purposes. Oah, 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:33.679 who is where Honolulu is? That's where the major airport is, 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.680 That's where the major city is. Uh. You've got Kawaii, 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:40.760 which is gorgeous, uh and tiny and and they shot 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:44.080 a lot of lost on Kawaii and Uh it's beautiful, 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:47.800 but a little touristy. It's a little small touristy section. 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:50.600 And then you've got Maui, which is like the resort island. 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.560 I've been to Oaho, I've been to those islands, and 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:57.159 Big Island. Big Island to me is my favorite. It 0:18:57.240 --> 0:18:59.199 is a little more laid back and it has a 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:07.080 lot of different ecosystems, from rocky beaches to rainforest to grassland. 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:12.440 Two snow on top of the volcanic peaks, including mounta Loa. 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:14.600 Mounta Loa gets snow at the top of it at 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:18.800 the higher elevations. It is not the tallest of the 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:22.760 volcanoes on the Big Island. The tallest would be Mount 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:27.680 a chia Um And also it can be confused with Kilauea. 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:31.840 Kilauea is the the volcano you would really be looking 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:34.600 at if you went to the Volcanic National Park and 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.520 you were looking at the lava flows uh that are 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.320 either coming from event or going out or rift into 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:44.879 the ocean. That's Kilauea on on one side of the island. 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:47.720 But the biggest of all the volcanoes, the largest in 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:51.320 in just sheer size, is mounta Loa and it is 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:57.040 an active volcano, so this experiment is located on an 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:01.360 active volcano. Now that being said, eruption are rarely violent. 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:05.440 They do happen, but the eruptions are more like lava 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:09.200 flowing out of the volcano, or almost like it's leaking 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:11.879 out of the volcano, not being propelled up in a 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:15.879 big flume like you would think in a traditional volcanic eruption. 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:19.480 It tends to flow from the summit down towards the 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.639 edges of the island and what is often called the 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:26.359 curtain of fire. There are these rifts in the earth 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.360 and they act almost like channels where the lava will 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:35.280 flow through. Uh. While the eruption itself can be relatively nonviolent, 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.399 they're still pretty destructive, right, Like you can have a 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:42.800 slow moving lava flow that will cause real damage to property. 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.520 It's rare that anyone gets hurt in these things because 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:49.840 the lava moves at a walking pace. It's not going 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:53.359 super fast. I think it hasn't been since the nineteen 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:58.280 thirties since someone was injured by an eruption. Everyone tends 0:20:58.280 --> 0:20:59.600 to be able to get all the way in time 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.359 and if avacuated, but it does cause damage because you know, 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:06.160 homes don't move, and a lava flow encounters a house, 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:09.240 then you know you've just got a fire on your hands. 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:13.320 But it's generally a pretty safe place you get you 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:17.720 aren't expected to have an a like sudden eruption that's 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:21.359 going to put you into danger. The site of the 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:24.960 simulated Martian habitat is located at about eight thousand feet 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:29.639 elevation on Mauna Loa. The summit of the volcano, if 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:31.720 you were to go at the very top, is thirteen thousand, 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:35.120 six d seventy nine feet, so this is a little 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:39.680 more than halfway up the full height of the volcano, 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:45.160 and it's on a slope um that keeps it fairly level. 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:48.760 For comparison sake, the primary observing side of the Mantala 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:52.640 Observatory is at eleven thousand one hunt one feet of elevation, 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:55.879 so the Manta Loa Observatory is higher up. But don't 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.920 confuse that with the Mantichia observatories. Those are astronomical ref 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:02.480 search facilities on the taller peak of Monachia to the 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:07.480 north of mountal Iowa's summit. Mantaloa's observatory is an atmospheric Observatory, 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:10.679 primarily keeping an eye on CEO two levels in our atmosphere. 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:13.480 Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying this classic episode of 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:15.840 tech stuff. We're gonna take a quick break to thank 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:26.399 our sponsor. The habitat itself is in an abandoned quarry 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:29.119 on the northern slope of Mountaloa. The team picked that 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:32.080 site because it has very little vegetation. It looks like 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:36.160 the surface of Mars. It's this rocky, barren kind of 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:40.160 of area. Uh, there are no rare or an endangered 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:42.840 species that make it a home, so there was no 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:46.320 chance of having a negative impact on an endangered species, 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:50.480 and so you would also have a fairly accurate representation 0:22:50.680 --> 0:22:53.359 of Mars, and you would not be bringing harm to 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:57.960 any threatened species. Also, there are no cultural or archaeological 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:01.520 sites in that area, so the team wouldn't be causing 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:05.120 any harm to something of cultural or historical value, which 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:09.240 I think is incredibly intelligent. Um. The Hawaiian people have 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:15.560 a very rich history. Their culture is phenomenal, and of course, uh, 0:23:15.600 --> 0:23:20.119 the the European explorers who came in had a huge 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:24.160 impact on that culture. So trying to not make it 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:28.440 trying not to endanger that rich history. More is really 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:32.480 important from a sociological standpoint. If you ever get a 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:34.879 chance to look into their culture, really you should do 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:41.360 it because it is It is a beautiful and incredibly 0:23:41.480 --> 0:23:46.399 fascinating culture. So the habitat itself was designed by V. 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:52.080 Paul Point of the Envisioned Design and it was built 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:55.800 by the Blue Planet Foundation of Honolulu, and it's super 0:23:55.880 --> 0:23:59.120 duper cool, you guys. So it's a geodesic dome. That's 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:02.040 the main habitat. Geodesic dome. That's thirty six ft in 0:24:02.040 --> 0:24:05.639 diameter and it has two stories. The volume inside the 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:10.040 dome is thirteen thousand, five hundred seventy cubic feet. Now, 0:24:10.080 --> 0:24:13.360 not all of that is accessible. Uh, there's a very 0:24:13.359 --> 0:24:16.880 tall ceiling, like like the second floor is only half 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:20.879 a half floor, so half of it looks out into 0:24:21.440 --> 0:24:25.560 the lower level. So you have this nice tall ceiling 0:24:25.680 --> 0:24:29.919 over half of the lower level. And since it's a dome, 0:24:30.600 --> 0:24:34.320 the walls curve inward. So because they curve in word, 0:24:34.400 --> 0:24:37.239 you don't have full use of the space that's right 0:24:37.280 --> 0:24:40.040 along the edge of the walls, right, You couldn't You 0:24:40.080 --> 0:24:43.439 couldn't stand up like a table or chair right up 0:24:43.440 --> 0:24:46.560 against the wall because the way the walls curve inside. 0:24:47.480 --> 0:24:49.560 On the ground floor, there are eight hundred seventy eight 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:52.399 square feet that are that's considered to be usable space. 0:24:53.119 --> 0:24:56.840 The ground floor has a kitchen, dining room, bathroom with shower, 0:24:57.080 --> 0:25:01.080 a lab and exercise room, and some common working spaces. 0:25:01.960 --> 0:25:07.119 The upper floor is aloft, with about four square feet available. UH. 0:25:07.200 --> 0:25:10.760 It has six state rooms and one half bath. That 0:25:10.840 --> 0:25:13.320 ceiling is pretty high, and the reason why they have 0:25:13.400 --> 0:25:15.560 that high ceiling in the first places, studies have shown 0:25:15.600 --> 0:25:18.199 that the longer time, the amount of time you spend 0:25:18.280 --> 0:25:21.520 in a place, the more it seems to shrink to you. 0:25:22.160 --> 0:25:25.520 So you want the space to already be pretty lofty, 0:25:25.760 --> 0:25:29.439 pretty tall, and and open because you're gonna have that 0:25:29.480 --> 0:25:31.760 shrinking effect, and you don't want people to start feel 0:25:32.080 --> 0:25:35.399 like they're they're penned up or they're trapped. It's very 0:25:35.440 --> 0:25:39.879 important from a psychological point of view. UH. There are 0:25:39.880 --> 0:25:43.679 actually some pictures on the High Seas website where you 0:25:43.720 --> 0:25:46.560 can take a look at the rooms and the layout 0:25:46.640 --> 0:25:50.639 and some of the equipment inside this habitat, and I 0:25:50.640 --> 0:25:53.080 recommend you do it because they're pretty cool. They only 0:25:53.080 --> 0:25:55.119 have a few that are actually of the interior of 0:25:55.119 --> 0:25:58.240 the habitat. Most of their pictures are of the exterior 0:25:58.480 --> 0:26:03.360 or of UH. The various participants dressed up in simulated 0:26:03.400 --> 0:26:06.879 space suits as they go outside, because in order to 0:26:06.920 --> 0:26:10.639 simulate and an experience on Mars, you are not allowed 0:26:10.680 --> 0:26:14.920 to leave the habitat without first going through a simulated 0:26:15.000 --> 0:26:20.119 airlock experience, including getting all geared up inside a simulated 0:26:20.160 --> 0:26:23.880 space suit. AH, very important if you want to make 0:26:24.200 --> 0:26:27.600 as as accurate as possible as the experience on Mars 0:26:27.600 --> 0:26:31.120 would be. UH. Disregarding the other stuff we already talked about, 0:26:31.160 --> 0:26:32.520 like the fact that you're not going to be able 0:26:32.560 --> 0:26:36.919 to simulate of Earth's gravity here on Earth. The picture 0:26:36.920 --> 0:26:39.119 of the kitchen makes it look really nifty and modern. 0:26:39.200 --> 0:26:42.320 It has a stove and oven, it's got a microwave, 0:26:42.440 --> 0:26:46.240 a breadmaker, and a crock pot. UM. They've thought that 0:26:46.359 --> 0:26:50.480 by giving the participants different abilities to prepare food, it 0:26:50.520 --> 0:26:53.879 would also help morale. Towards the end of the first mission, 0:26:54.080 --> 0:26:58.000 Commander Angelo Vermulin talked about the foods that were a 0:26:58.000 --> 0:27:00.480 big hit versus the ones that did not go over 0:27:00.600 --> 0:27:03.919 so well to kind of, you know, help with the 0:27:03.960 --> 0:27:08.720 future experiments. There have been four missions so far in 0:27:08.760 --> 0:27:12.719 the high seas habitat the first one lasted four months, 0:27:13.320 --> 0:27:15.159 and that's the one I'm talking about right here that 0:27:15.280 --> 0:27:18.600 Commander Vermullin was working on. He said that the foods 0:27:18.640 --> 0:27:21.280 available to the crew were limited to ones that could 0:27:21.440 --> 0:27:24.760 be easy to carry in a spacecraft, whether it would 0:27:24.760 --> 0:27:27.680 be carried in the spacecraft that the astronauts going to 0:27:27.760 --> 0:27:31.240 Mars would use, or a spacecraft sent ahead of time, 0:27:31.440 --> 0:27:36.360 or resupply mission sent later on to send more cargo 0:27:36.440 --> 0:27:41.520 and supplies to people already on Mars Um. In any case, 0:27:41.560 --> 0:27:43.880 you have to make sure that you you are packing 0:27:43.880 --> 0:27:48.760 stuff that is uh space efficient, right, meaning that you 0:27:48.800 --> 0:27:52.120 can pack a lot of it into a small area 0:27:52.280 --> 0:27:55.639 and that it's not too heavy so uh. He said 0:27:55.680 --> 0:27:58.920 that the favorites in the pre prepared category, so these 0:27:58.920 --> 0:28:00.919 are ones that were ready to go, you just had 0:28:00.960 --> 0:28:05.280 to heat them up in some way, included creamy wild rice, soup, 0:28:05.760 --> 0:28:10.960 mashed potatoes, raspberry crumble, and apple sauce, among others. The 0:28:11.080 --> 0:28:13.480 least favorite of the pre prepared foods was one called 0:28:13.600 --> 0:28:17.360 kung foo chicken, which the entire group described as being 0:28:17.359 --> 0:28:21.800 mostly tasteless and slimy in texture. The team also prepared 0:28:21.880 --> 0:28:25.840 meals for themselves and for each other using ingredients that 0:28:25.920 --> 0:28:29.200 were sent along, and those met with a lot of success. 0:28:29.760 --> 0:28:33.080 Those meals included everything from a seafood cholder to Russian 0:28:33.200 --> 0:28:38.960 borshed to Moroccan tangen uh and others. They also like 0:28:39.040 --> 0:28:41.640 to use tortillas a lot to make various raps. Apparently 0:28:41.680 --> 0:28:44.360 this is also a big hit aboard the International Space Station. 0:28:44.640 --> 0:28:47.360 Tortillas are easy to pack and you can put a 0:28:47.400 --> 0:28:49.040 lot of different stuff in them, So they talked about 0:28:49.080 --> 0:28:51.320 experimenting with all sorts of things from breakfast foods to 0:28:51.400 --> 0:28:55.640 fish and everything else, and apparently those were a huge hit. 0:28:56.600 --> 0:29:00.400 But in general, pre prepared meals were actually favored, not 0:29:00.520 --> 0:29:03.040 because they tasted better, but because they didn't require a 0:29:03.040 --> 0:29:05.920 lot of work and thought to prepare them. If you're 0:29:05.920 --> 0:29:09.160 working all day trying to complete mission objectives, and every 0:29:09.160 --> 0:29:11.880 single day they had mission objectives they were supposed to meet, 0:29:12.720 --> 0:29:15.720 then you are putting a lot of thought and energy 0:29:15.760 --> 0:29:23.000 into cooking, and uh, it's exhausting, it's overwhelming. So instead, 0:29:23.040 --> 0:29:24.960 if you were to go the pre prepared route, where 0:29:24.960 --> 0:29:27.320 you don't really have to think very much and cooking 0:29:27.360 --> 0:29:30.160 is easy and clean up as a breeze. That is 0:29:30.240 --> 0:29:32.760 an easy choice. You could see that also if you 0:29:32.800 --> 0:29:35.440 were to go with the preparation mode, like the full 0:29:35.480 --> 0:29:38.720 on cook a meal mode, it means using more water 0:29:39.520 --> 0:29:42.920 then you would with pre prepared stuff, and water conservation 0:29:43.000 --> 0:29:46.360 is incredibly important. Water would be a very precious resource 0:29:46.360 --> 0:29:48.960 for astronauts on Mars. You would need to have a 0:29:49.080 --> 0:29:53.360 very careful way of managing your water supply. Now, assuming 0:29:53.360 --> 0:29:55.959 we do send people to Mars, we will likely create 0:29:56.120 --> 0:29:59.800 means to get water from Mars itself. There is for 0:30:00.040 --> 0:30:02.840 us and water on Mars, and there are probably different 0:30:02.840 --> 0:30:06.840 ways that we could harvest water from Mars. But even so, 0:30:07.000 --> 0:30:09.720 you would want to be very judicious with your use 0:30:09.760 --> 0:30:11.320 of it, and you would want to conserve as much 0:30:11.360 --> 0:30:13.240 as you could and reuse as much as you could. 0:30:13.360 --> 0:30:16.400 And more on that in just a minute. The commander 0:30:16.440 --> 0:30:20.080 also said he figured future missions should have more comfort 0:30:20.120 --> 0:30:24.080 foods for particularly stressful days. Um He said that there 0:30:24.080 --> 0:30:26.800 should be a lot more spices, herbs, and hot sauces 0:30:26.800 --> 0:30:28.840 to add a kick to foods and give them more flavor, 0:30:29.520 --> 0:30:33.080 and there needed to be more foods with fiber in them. Apparently, 0:30:33.080 --> 0:30:35.640 the fiber content of a lot of the foods they 0:30:35.640 --> 0:30:40.000 had was fairly low, which you know, you don't want 0:30:40.040 --> 0:30:42.800 to have a regular problem with a lack of fiber. 0:30:43.360 --> 0:30:47.560 But so some of the ingredients included in that first mission, 0:30:47.640 --> 0:30:49.360 and this is just a small list of some of 0:30:49.400 --> 0:30:50.720 the ones that jumped out at me that I thought 0:30:50.760 --> 0:30:56.160 were kind of interesting. Anchovies, awesome pre cooked bacon, freeze 0:30:56.240 --> 0:30:59.320 dried meats, which the crew said, We're really only good 0:30:59.320 --> 0:31:03.000 if you use the as an ingredient within a bigger dish. 0:31:03.240 --> 0:31:04.960 You wouldn't want to eat one of the freeze dried 0:31:04.960 --> 0:31:07.840 meats on their own because they had very little aroma 0:31:08.080 --> 0:31:10.880 and less taste, so you essentially just got a meat 0:31:11.000 --> 0:31:14.360 consistency with no flavor to it. They had a lot 0:31:14.400 --> 0:31:17.520 of different freeze dried vegetables and fruits. They had nuts 0:31:17.520 --> 0:31:20.600 and seeds. They had pastas and other starches. They had 0:31:20.640 --> 0:31:24.800 baking ingredients like flour and yeast. Uh. They had powdered 0:31:24.880 --> 0:31:29.000 dairy products. They had tea, coffee, and other drinks, including tang. 0:31:29.520 --> 0:31:32.880 They had seasonings and condiments. Some of my favorite ingredients 0:31:32.920 --> 0:31:38.000 listed included canned eel popping corn masa, which I really 0:31:38.000 --> 0:31:41.560 do like to cook with, powdered eggs POI. That's very 0:31:41.600 --> 0:31:45.360 Hawaiian velveta cheese. And of course tang you gotta have 0:31:45.400 --> 0:31:49.120 tang on there on your space trip. And uh. The 0:31:49.200 --> 0:31:51.840 High Seas experiment assumed the residents on Mars would receive 0:31:51.880 --> 0:31:55.200 regular supplies from Earth, So that was they would actually 0:31:55.880 --> 0:32:00.440 hire a company to bring shipments of food and water 0:32:01.040 --> 0:32:06.560 at certain intervals during the experiments to represent a resupply 0:32:06.680 --> 0:32:10.840 mission sent from Earth to keep the astronauts supplied. UM, 0:32:11.000 --> 0:32:13.920 because you wouldn't want to pack a full year's worth 0:32:13.960 --> 0:32:17.440 of food and water onto the habitat all at once. 0:32:17.600 --> 0:32:21.480 It would be prohibitively large. You would have to have 0:32:21.520 --> 0:32:25.920 a much larger space and that would not be very efficient. Remember, 0:32:26.920 --> 0:32:30.280 the larger the habitat, the more you have to pack 0:32:30.320 --> 0:32:34.600 in in order to maintain the proper air pressure. Uh, 0:32:34.640 --> 0:32:38.200 you need more oxygen and it just it makes everything 0:32:38.200 --> 0:32:40.800 more complicated. So you want to find that perfect balance 0:32:41.320 --> 0:32:44.440 where it's efficient but not so small that it's going 0:32:44.480 --> 0:32:48.360 to make habitats the habitants go space crazy. You don't 0:32:48.400 --> 0:32:52.680 want space madness. That's bad. As for that exercise area, 0:32:52.760 --> 0:32:55.440 the astronauts used it a lot, in particular during the 0:32:55.440 --> 0:32:59.160 first mission. UH, there were some projects that NASA was 0:32:59.160 --> 0:33:02.560 conducting some some experiments they were using. They were studying 0:33:02.560 --> 0:33:06.240 how well different types of materials hold up to prolonged 0:33:06.280 --> 0:33:09.560 activity and where and they were looking at two things. 0:33:09.640 --> 0:33:12.040 We're looking at how much does the material stand up 0:33:12.040 --> 0:33:14.880 to wear and tear, like, does it does it maintain 0:33:14.960 --> 0:33:18.800 its integrity? And also how long can someone go wearing 0:33:18.840 --> 0:33:21.920 the same clothing before they stank up the joint? And 0:33:21.920 --> 0:33:24.320 that's serious. They really did do that because again, you 0:33:24.360 --> 0:33:26.120 want to conserve your water. You're not going to be 0:33:26.120 --> 0:33:29.520 taking a shower that frequently, and so they wanted to 0:33:29.560 --> 0:33:35.120 find micro bacterial type fibers that are anti microbial I 0:33:35.120 --> 0:33:42.000 should say, fibers that would limit the effect of bacteria 0:33:42.240 --> 0:33:45.920 on a person's skin from creating a stink and stinking 0:33:45.960 --> 0:33:48.640 up the joint. When you have six people working in 0:33:48.680 --> 0:33:51.040 close proximity, you don't want to have a lot of 0:33:51.080 --> 0:33:53.880 bo filling up that habitat. So that was one of 0:33:53.880 --> 0:33:56.479 the experiments on that first mission. Just imagine going out 0:33:56.520 --> 0:33:59.960 there and exercising your heart out and hoping that you're 0:34:00.040 --> 0:34:06.000 anti microbial under things can keep the job going. According 0:34:06.040 --> 0:34:08.920 to one former participant, most folks would exercise along with 0:34:09.000 --> 0:34:14.360 exercise videos like Insanity or P niney X that's pretty hardcore. Obviously, 0:34:14.440 --> 0:34:16.640 on the service of Mars, things would be different because 0:34:16.640 --> 0:34:18.759 again you would have that lower gravity, so you'd have 0:34:18.840 --> 0:34:22.120 to figure out a lot of different resistance training type 0:34:22.200 --> 0:34:28.359 experience type of approaches to allow for appropriate amounts of exercise. Uh, 0:34:28.520 --> 0:34:31.960 we're not just bouncing all over the habitat now. The 0:34:32.000 --> 0:34:34.920 staterooms were basically big enough for a bed, a stool 0:34:35.000 --> 0:34:37.319 and a small computer desk, and of course there's no 0:34:37.400 --> 0:34:41.080 view outside. The dome was made out of flexible material. 0:34:41.239 --> 0:34:46.319 The rooms have like a plywood kind of roof to them, 0:34:46.400 --> 0:34:50.319 so there's a fabric shell on the outside. On the 0:34:50.320 --> 0:34:52.759 inside you have this like plywood roof. It's solid. You 0:34:52.800 --> 0:34:56.200 don't have a view, um and I think the only 0:34:56.280 --> 0:35:00.720 porthole they have is near the entrance of the actual habitat, 0:35:00.719 --> 0:35:05.000 where you would go through the whole airlock system. Otherwise 0:35:05.000 --> 0:35:07.120 you don't Oh, you're just looking at the interior of 0:35:07.160 --> 0:35:09.839 the habitat. Now, the pictures of the rooms are kind 0:35:09.840 --> 0:35:12.080 of cool. I think Harry Potter would have felt right 0:35:12.120 --> 0:35:14.920 at home moving from his cupboard under the Dursley stairs 0:35:15.440 --> 0:35:18.040 to the high Seas facility, it would have seemed like 0:35:18.520 --> 0:35:22.279 pretty much a one to one comparison. Uh. You would 0:35:22.360 --> 0:35:24.800 store all of your belongings, like your clothing and stuff 0:35:24.920 --> 0:35:27.759 under the bed. There's no closet or anything. In fact, 0:35:27.800 --> 0:35:31.320 the bedroom looks like a closet. The beds themselves are 0:35:31.320 --> 0:35:35.359 positioned so that the one of the long edges is 0:35:35.440 --> 0:35:40.200 against the outer side of the wall, right, so that way, 0:35:41.000 --> 0:35:43.200 when you open the door, you're looking at the side 0:35:43.200 --> 0:35:45.640 of the bed essentially, and you could take maybe two 0:35:45.680 --> 0:35:47.839 steps and then sit down on your bed, and then 0:35:47.880 --> 0:35:49.759 you have your little bit desk and your stool there too. 0:35:51.320 --> 0:35:54.120 Uh so that that computer desk I mentioned the team 0:35:54.160 --> 0:35:57.319 did have access to computers and the Internet, but in 0:35:57.400 --> 0:36:00.200 order to simulate the isolation someone would feel on ours, 0:36:00.320 --> 0:36:03.759 all communications between the participants and the outside world were 0:36:03.800 --> 0:36:07.480 delayed by around twenty minutes. That simulates the amount of 0:36:07.480 --> 0:36:09.359 time it would take data to make its way from 0:36:09.400 --> 0:36:12.840 Mars to Earth at the speed of light. Now, like 0:36:12.880 --> 0:36:15.120 I said before, the distance between Mars and Earth varies 0:36:15.120 --> 0:36:18.399 throughout their respective orbits around the Sun, but a rough 0:36:18.440 --> 0:36:22.640 average is a twenty minute twenty light minute gap, meaning 0:36:22.640 --> 0:36:25.680 it takes light twenty minutes to pass between Mars and Earth, 0:36:26.480 --> 0:36:28.120 so that means there was no way to chat in 0:36:28.160 --> 0:36:31.240 real time. It was all asynchronous communication, and all the 0:36:31.239 --> 0:36:34.760 websites they could access were cashed images, so they couldn't 0:36:34.800 --> 0:36:38.120 have access to a dynamic website and they're not going 0:36:38.160 --> 0:36:40.960 to look at a website that is changing in real time. 0:36:41.080 --> 0:36:43.600 They would look at a cashed version of it. This 0:36:43.680 --> 0:36:46.200 was all to simulate the limitations they would face if 0:36:46.200 --> 0:36:50.080 they were actually on Mars. Power for the habitat came 0:36:50.160 --> 0:36:54.680 from solar panels and batteries solar power. Obviously, if you 0:36:54.719 --> 0:36:58.120 don't use the electricity generator from the solar panel right away, 0:36:58.640 --> 0:37:01.160 you waste it, so you have to either use it 0:37:01.280 --> 0:37:04.840 or store it. So you would use the solar power 0:37:04.880 --> 0:37:07.239 to power the stuff inside the habitat and store any 0:37:07.280 --> 0:37:10.880 excess electricity in batteries. They also had a hydrogen fuel 0:37:10.880 --> 0:37:13.359 cell to provide backup power if the batteries ever fell 0:37:13.440 --> 0:37:16.680 below five capacity, so that way you wouldn't have an 0:37:16.719 --> 0:37:21.040 interruption in power obviously that would be devastating on Mars itself. 0:37:22.480 --> 0:37:25.640 Inside the habitat, they also had a three D printer 0:37:25.840 --> 0:37:29.120 which allowed the crew to print out replacement parts. For equipment. 0:37:29.160 --> 0:37:32.239 If something had broken, let's say like a leg on 0:37:32.280 --> 0:37:36.240 a on a small table is wobbly, you could actually 0:37:36.239 --> 0:37:38.239 print out a little three D stop gap so that 0:37:38.280 --> 0:37:40.400 you stop it from wobbling. Or it might be something 0:37:40.440 --> 0:37:43.200 way more serious, or it could even be something simple 0:37:43.239 --> 0:37:45.640 like a comb, so you didn't have to pack a comb. 0:37:45.800 --> 0:37:47.839 You just print one when you get there. I thought 0:37:47.880 --> 0:37:49.960 that was kind of cool. The two bathrooms in the 0:37:49.960 --> 0:37:53.719 habitat had, or have, because the habitat still exists, have 0:37:54.040 --> 0:38:00.320 composting toilets. Poop is important, y'all. If you were on ours, 0:38:00.400 --> 0:38:05.200 you might want to use poop as fertilizer for the 0:38:05.200 --> 0:38:08.160 soil you are using to grow plants, and you would 0:38:08.200 --> 0:38:10.359 actually have to process the poop. You know, you'd have 0:38:10.400 --> 0:38:12.080 to process a little bit. It's not like you would 0:38:12.080 --> 0:38:17.360 just dump the poo into a a field of you know, 0:38:17.400 --> 0:38:19.840 whatever it was you're growing radishes or potatoes in the 0:38:19.920 --> 0:38:23.520 case of the Martian, but um, you would, you know, 0:38:23.840 --> 0:38:26.000 want to save that. So they were trying to keep 0:38:26.000 --> 0:38:28.360 that similar. Also, they had to learn how to repair 0:38:28.480 --> 0:38:32.880 composting toilets because sometimes stuff breaks. As for water, the 0:38:32.920 --> 0:38:35.319 habitat had a water tank or has a water tank. 0:38:35.320 --> 0:38:37.800 I keep using the past tense, but I should stress 0:38:38.080 --> 0:38:40.040 they still plan to do two more missions with the 0:38:40.120 --> 0:38:42.760 High Seas habitats, so it's not like it's gone away. 0:38:43.400 --> 0:38:46.440 Has a water tank that can store about one thousand gallons. 0:38:47.040 --> 0:38:49.440 The project hired people to bring water and refill the 0:38:49.480 --> 0:38:52.839 tank at regular intervals, but it was important that it 0:38:52.880 --> 0:38:56.440 wasn't so frequent. To make it easy. The team inside 0:38:56.440 --> 0:38:59.480 the habitat had to plan out their water usage so 0:38:59.520 --> 0:39:01.920 that they and not run out of water. It was 0:39:01.960 --> 0:39:06.279 a really tough challenge. Uh. Now on Earth we would 0:39:06.280 --> 0:39:08.759 be able to send water supplies up occasionally, but not 0:39:08.800 --> 0:39:12.080 that frequently because again, once the Mars and Earth orbits 0:39:12.120 --> 0:39:15.400 are out of alignment, it takes way more energy for 0:39:15.480 --> 0:39:17.760 us to get to Mars, and that means more fuel, 0:39:17.960 --> 0:39:21.360 and that means more expense and a bigger technological challenge. 0:39:21.880 --> 0:39:25.959 So you really don't want to have to send more 0:39:26.040 --> 0:39:30.200 water if you really can avoid it. Uh. They didn't 0:39:30.200 --> 0:39:33.279 go to the extremes of water conservation that you would 0:39:33.320 --> 0:39:36.440 find a board like the International Space Station, where scientists 0:39:36.440 --> 0:39:39.400 have attempted to recapture as much water as possible, including 0:39:39.800 --> 0:39:42.919 water people breathe out just the water you would lose 0:39:42.960 --> 0:39:46.440 the respiration UH that kind of water on the I 0:39:46.640 --> 0:39:48.440 s S. They tried to reclaim as much as that 0:39:48.480 --> 0:39:52.320 as possible, filter it, and then reuse it in various ways, 0:39:52.800 --> 0:39:55.120 but they did look at different ways to pay attention 0:39:55.160 --> 0:39:58.960 to conservation and recycling. During the year long mission that 0:39:59.080 --> 0:40:02.520 just concluded him, the team actually had to respond to 0:40:02.560 --> 0:40:05.520 a water emergency. They had planned out how much water 0:40:05.560 --> 0:40:08.760 consumption they would go through UH through the month of July, 0:40:09.280 --> 0:40:11.920 and they worked it out to like the millimeter of 0:40:11.920 --> 0:40:14.880 how far down the water tank they would go. But 0:40:15.000 --> 0:40:18.160 then the water supplier, the company that actually would come 0:40:18.239 --> 0:40:21.560 up and refill the water tank, suffered a mechanical failure 0:40:21.680 --> 0:40:23.839 and it had nothing to do with the habitat. It 0:40:23.880 --> 0:40:25.839 wasn't their fault at all, but it meant that the 0:40:25.880 --> 0:40:29.320 water that would come in and resupply them wasn't coming. 0:40:29.960 --> 0:40:33.279 And this is a simulation. They can't just get a 0:40:33.280 --> 0:40:36.680 different company to come out and deliver water. Something like 0:40:36.760 --> 0:40:40.640 this might happen on a real Martian mission. So the 0:40:40.680 --> 0:40:43.480 crew had to figure out what they wanted to do. Now. 0:40:43.480 --> 0:40:47.360 They had an emergency backup water tank, but it hadn't 0:40:47.400 --> 0:40:51.560 been touched in years. This emergency water tank had existed 0:40:51.600 --> 0:40:53.879 since the very first mission, but no one had had 0:40:53.920 --> 0:40:57.160 to use it, so they weren't sure about the quality 0:40:57.200 --> 0:40:59.120 of the water. They had no idea if it would 0:40:59.120 --> 0:41:01.280 be drinkable, if be safe to drink, and they lacked 0:41:01.320 --> 0:41:03.960 the equipment to test it because that would take up 0:41:03.960 --> 0:41:08.160 even more space, and if you don't absolutely need something, 0:41:08.239 --> 0:41:10.879 you're not gonna take it in a habitat that has 0:41:11.040 --> 0:41:15.279 very limited space to it. So they had to figure 0:41:15.320 --> 0:41:18.440 out a way to make the water usable and be 0:41:18.800 --> 0:41:21.560 and and be sure that it was safe without having 0:41:21.600 --> 0:41:24.360 the ability to test it. So what they did because 0:41:24.400 --> 0:41:27.759 then an old fashioned method of distilling the water. They 0:41:27.880 --> 0:41:32.800 put uh They put containers or pots of water inside 0:41:32.840 --> 0:41:39.040 a big plastic tote essentially, and they had an electric 0:41:39.160 --> 0:41:42.520 heater element. An electric heater element would heat up the 0:41:42.520 --> 0:41:44.759 pot of water so that the water would boil. On 0:41:44.840 --> 0:41:47.680 top of the tote. They put a plastic sheet and 0:41:47.719 --> 0:41:50.520 they clamped it down along the sides. They had just 0:41:50.840 --> 0:41:54.760 regular old clamps that they used. Boy Bush Joe McCormick 0:41:54.760 --> 0:41:57.960 were here because he loves clamps. But they put clamps 0:41:58.000 --> 0:42:01.280 all along the edges and kept it nice and tight. 0:42:01.600 --> 0:42:05.640 They put a spoon over the center of the plastic 0:42:05.640 --> 0:42:08.960 sheet to create an indentation, a dip in the sheet, 0:42:09.160 --> 0:42:10.760 kind of like if you were to imagine a bowling 0:42:10.800 --> 0:42:15.040 ball on a trampoline, it makes the material dip down. 0:42:15.600 --> 0:42:18.600 I honestly didn't remember talking about a bowling ball on 0:42:18.640 --> 0:42:21.600 a trampoline, but I'm so glad I did. We're gonna 0:42:21.719 --> 0:42:23.799 get back into this episode in just a minute, but 0:42:23.920 --> 0:42:26.920 first let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. 0:42:34.520 --> 0:42:37.080 So steam from the boiling water would rise up, it 0:42:37.120 --> 0:42:40.400 would condense against the plastic. The drops of water would 0:42:40.440 --> 0:42:44.080 slowly slide down to the lowest point where the spoon was, 0:42:45.040 --> 0:42:52.280 and eventually dripped down into the container itself. The water 0:42:52.360 --> 0:42:54.799 that would drip down was safe to drink. It had 0:42:54.800 --> 0:42:57.760 been distilled, and so they were able to make drinking 0:42:57.760 --> 0:43:00.719 water this way. They just had to constantly checking on 0:43:00.760 --> 0:43:03.239 the water make sure that there was at the right level, uh, 0:43:03.280 --> 0:43:05.719 and replace the water in the pots so that they 0:43:05.800 --> 0:43:10.040 added that to their daily activities. But otherwise it didn't 0:43:10.080 --> 0:43:12.960 impact the mission. So they were able to continue their 0:43:13.000 --> 0:43:16.720 mission and respond to this water emergency in a way 0:43:16.760 --> 0:43:19.520 that was realistic. You know, it didn't require them to 0:43:19.680 --> 0:43:22.319 step outside of the simulation in order to keep it going, 0:43:22.600 --> 0:43:26.000 so it was really cool. Now, next to the habitat 0:43:26.000 --> 0:43:29.600 itself is a steel shipping container that serves as a 0:43:29.600 --> 0:43:32.680 workshop for the habitat. It's actually attached to the habitat, 0:43:32.960 --> 0:43:37.080 so the participants can pass back and forth between the 0:43:37.120 --> 0:43:41.600 shipping container and the habitat itself in order to do 0:43:41.680 --> 0:43:44.560 more work. But they wouldn't necessarily have to down a 0:43:44.600 --> 0:43:47.799 full space suit in order to do that. And like 0:43:47.840 --> 0:43:50.879 I mentioned, they have completed four simulated mission so far. 0:43:51.040 --> 0:43:53.560 The first took place in two thousand thirteen it lasted 0:43:53.600 --> 0:43:55.960 four months long. The second mission took place in two 0:43:56.000 --> 0:43:58.360 thousand fourteen the early part of two thousand fourteen and 0:43:58.440 --> 0:44:01.359 lasted another four months. The third began in the fall 0:44:01.400 --> 0:44:04.040 of two thousand and fourteen and lasted six months, and 0:44:04.080 --> 0:44:07.240 the fourth mission began on August twenty nine, two thou fifteen, 0:44:07.280 --> 0:44:10.799 and ended a year later, So it was just a 0:44:10.840 --> 0:44:15.560 few days before I recorded this. Obviously, for the experiment 0:44:15.600 --> 0:44:17.960 to be meaningful, everyone has to behave as if they 0:44:18.000 --> 0:44:21.600 are in fact on Mars. Again, they don't have to 0:44:21.640 --> 0:44:26.239 pretend like they're in low gravity situations. That would be ridiculous. 0:44:26.280 --> 0:44:28.480 It would be it would require you to exert way 0:44:28.480 --> 0:44:31.720 too much energy, but going outside the habitat mint, putting 0:44:31.760 --> 0:44:34.439 on a space suit, going through that simulated airlock UH 0:44:34.480 --> 0:44:37.240 scenario before you could go out. And because the project 0:44:37.280 --> 0:44:40.040 was simulating an actual visit to Mars, they would receive 0:44:40.040 --> 0:44:42.680 mission objectives that would require the participants to do this 0:44:42.760 --> 0:44:46.359 on a fairly frequent basis. Every single mission they've done 0:44:46.560 --> 0:44:51.120 has had several Mars walks included where they were sent 0:44:51.200 --> 0:44:57.000 off to specific locations to take information down, make observations, 0:44:57.440 --> 0:45:01.840 explore things like lava tubes and vent um, which was 0:45:01.880 --> 0:45:04.440 really cool. I mean it allowed them to actually do 0:45:04.640 --> 0:45:07.239 real work. They were actually doing real research. It's just 0:45:07.320 --> 0:45:11.040 the research in this case was Earth research. They were 0:45:11.040 --> 0:45:13.480 just simulating the experience of it as if they were 0:45:13.480 --> 0:45:18.239 on Mars. So the information they gathered is useful to us. 0:45:18.719 --> 0:45:21.440 It's just useful to us as people on Earth, which 0:45:21.480 --> 0:45:23.040 is kind of cool. There was like a two for 0:45:23.120 --> 0:45:25.759 one in a way. Now, it also meant that the 0:45:25.760 --> 0:45:28.440 team had to show discipline when entering or leaving that 0:45:28.440 --> 0:45:34.600 that habitat um, and sometimes they would actually plan out 0:45:34.719 --> 0:45:37.279 a Mars walk when they didn't have one on the 0:45:37.320 --> 0:45:41.920 schedule simply to occupy their minds, because boredom is a 0:45:41.960 --> 0:45:45.200 real problem when you're in that that type of isolation, 0:45:45.280 --> 0:45:47.520 especially if you're in there for a whole year. And 0:45:47.600 --> 0:45:49.840 keep in mind that a habitat on Mars would have 0:45:49.880 --> 0:45:53.480 a much higher internal air pressure than the planet would, 0:45:54.000 --> 0:45:58.200 so the air pressure inside the habitat would be very 0:45:58.360 --> 0:46:02.400 very high compared to the Martian atmosphere. And that means 0:46:02.480 --> 0:46:05.760 if you opened up the habitat without using an airlock 0:46:06.600 --> 0:46:09.480 the air and said the habitat would rush out. It 0:46:09.480 --> 0:46:13.480 would blow out of the habitat and go out into 0:46:14.200 --> 0:46:17.560 the atmosphere and dissipate, and that would be no bueno. 0:46:18.360 --> 0:46:22.279 That's end of end of habitat. You would you would 0:46:22.360 --> 0:46:26.080 lose air pressure and you would have a catastrophic emergency, 0:46:27.000 --> 0:46:29.759 which also happens in the Martian No spoiler there either. 0:46:30.120 --> 0:46:33.040 It's a big part of the story and you would 0:46:33.160 --> 0:46:35.680 imagine that would have to happen in order to up 0:46:35.719 --> 0:46:40.560 the stakes on the drama. The when the stakes start 0:46:40.640 --> 0:46:43.439 with being abandoned on Mars, there are only so many 0:46:43.440 --> 0:46:46.200 things you can do to increase the stakes at that point, 0:46:46.200 --> 0:46:47.400 and you have to do that in order to have 0:46:47.400 --> 0:46:50.799 a compelling story. All right, let's talk about the participants 0:46:50.880 --> 0:46:53.359 of this most recent experiment, the people who spent an 0:46:53.600 --> 0:46:58.640 entire year in isolation with one another, the six strangers. 0:46:58.680 --> 0:47:02.399 As I mentioned in the beginning of this podcast. First 0:47:02.440 --> 0:47:06.160 of all, the the High Seas Project always seeks out 0:47:06.160 --> 0:47:11.440 participants who are astronaut like, meaning they have the qualifications 0:47:11.440 --> 0:47:14.879 that NASA would look for when choosing astronauts for their 0:47:14.960 --> 0:47:18.319 various space faring missions. So you already have to be 0:47:18.360 --> 0:47:22.120 a pretty remarkable person to be considered to take part 0:47:22.239 --> 0:47:25.560 in this experiment. Uh. They have to be physically fit, 0:47:25.760 --> 0:47:27.759 they have to be mentally fit, and they have to 0:47:27.800 --> 0:47:31.440 have at least one degree in science or engineering, and 0:47:31.520 --> 0:47:36.000 most of them have multiple degrees. We're talking mega super 0:47:36.080 --> 0:47:40.200 smart people. As I was looking through the various accomplishments 0:47:40.239 --> 0:47:43.880 and degrees that a lot of these participants have, I 0:47:43.920 --> 0:47:47.520 started to feel very badly about myself. I consider myself 0:47:47.520 --> 0:47:50.359 to be a fairly smart person, but these folks leave 0:47:50.400 --> 0:47:54.680 me in the dust. So each team member has assigned 0:47:54.800 --> 0:47:58.960 duties that they must complete day to day. Sometimes it's 0:47:59.440 --> 0:48:02.520 mundane stuff like cleaning up the habitat or cooking or 0:48:02.560 --> 0:48:06.400 something along those lines. Sometimes it's mission oriented stuff like 0:48:06.480 --> 0:48:09.359 going out on a Mars walk or conducting experiments within 0:48:09.400 --> 0:48:13.240 the habitat itself, but they can also pursue personal research 0:48:13.280 --> 0:48:15.880 projects during the course of the experiment. So a lot 0:48:15.880 --> 0:48:17.520 of the people who apply to be part of High 0:48:17.600 --> 0:48:21.560 Seas are also graduate students. Typically uh and a year 0:48:21.640 --> 0:48:23.759 long commitment's a big deal. I mean, you can do 0:48:23.880 --> 0:48:26.479 some really serious research within the course of a year, 0:48:27.280 --> 0:48:31.040 but that's a full year of your life. So here's 0:48:31.080 --> 0:48:35.840 the mission team from Mission for You had Commander Carmel Johnston. 0:48:36.360 --> 0:48:40.160 She's a soil scientist from Montana and her primary focus 0:48:40.200 --> 0:48:42.520 was to study how a Martian crew might grow food 0:48:42.600 --> 0:48:47.319 on a real mission. Um you had Christian Heinek, a 0:48:47.640 --> 0:48:50.680 physicist and engineer from Germany. She had worked on projects 0:48:50.800 --> 0:48:55.640 ranging from electro magnetic phenomena like the polar lights two 0:48:55.760 --> 0:49:00.320 simulations of the Earth's mantle before she joined High Seas. 0:49:00.360 --> 0:49:05.480 Super smart like her degrees are crazy because they focus 0:49:05.560 --> 0:49:11.240 on so many different different disciplines of science. She clearly 0:49:11.680 --> 0:49:15.879 is very intelligent and very curious, which is awesome. Then 0:49:15.920 --> 0:49:19.680 there was Shana Gifford. She also has a ton of 0:49:19.680 --> 0:49:26.720 academic credentials, including degrees and clinical laboratory science, biotechnology, journalism, 0:49:26.719 --> 0:49:30.399 and neuroscience. And she's also a science communicator, so as 0:49:30.440 --> 0:49:35.760 a fellow science communicator again, I am humbled by her accomplishments. 0:49:35.920 --> 0:49:37.600 I should get her on the show if I can, 0:49:38.440 --> 0:49:42.600 uh yet. Andre Stewart an aerospace engineer and flight engineer 0:49:42.600 --> 0:49:45.640 for NASA. He's also he was working for Lockheed Martin 0:49:45.719 --> 0:49:48.480 before this this project. And there's also a picture of 0:49:48.520 --> 0:49:50.920 him in the habitat wearing a Jane hat from Firefly, 0:49:51.040 --> 0:49:55.600 so that's kind of awesome. H Then you have Cyprien Versus, 0:49:56.080 --> 0:50:00.000 an astrobiologist expert. One of his goals is to pioneer 0:50:00.000 --> 0:50:03.759 are ways that future Martian colonists will produce various resources 0:50:03.840 --> 0:50:07.839 using biological processes, which would mean you'd use you know, 0:50:07.880 --> 0:50:10.399 like bacteria to produce stuff you would need. You would 0:50:10.440 --> 0:50:15.200 genetically modify the bacteria so that waste products that otherwise 0:50:15.200 --> 0:50:19.040 would just be thrown out could be converted into useful stuff. 0:50:19.440 --> 0:50:24.000 That could be everything from helping generate food or oxygen 0:50:24.200 --> 0:50:28.080 or rocket fuel even And the goal is to make 0:50:28.480 --> 0:50:33.440 Martian colonies, future Martian colonies more independent from Earth, not 0:50:33.600 --> 0:50:37.520 as like some sort of utopian society, but rather you 0:50:37.560 --> 0:50:41.000 don't have to rely on so many resupplies. You can 0:50:41.760 --> 0:50:47.840 support yourself independently, which would really increase the success probabilities 0:50:47.920 --> 0:50:51.920 of such a colony be really important. So that was 0:50:51.960 --> 0:50:54.440 really what he was focused on. And then you had 0:50:54.560 --> 0:50:58.239 Tristan basin th Weight, who's an architect, and he was 0:50:58.280 --> 0:51:03.280 studying human habitation extreme environments. So kind of a person 0:51:03.320 --> 0:51:07.320 who's living through this experience making note of it, making 0:51:07.360 --> 0:51:12.640 suggestions for what future habitats should incorporate. Maybe maybe elements 0:51:12.680 --> 0:51:15.480 they should get rid of, or elements they should add. 0:51:15.920 --> 0:51:19.839 Stuff that will again improve the success rate of any 0:51:19.880 --> 0:51:23.399 future Martian colony. So what was the outcome, Well, they 0:51:23.400 --> 0:51:27.200 spent a full year in that habitat, so that part 0:51:27.280 --> 0:51:29.440 was a success. They did not have to end the 0:51:29.440 --> 0:51:33.959 experiment early. No one got severely injured. One of the 0:51:34.000 --> 0:51:36.400 bright spots they said, is that when you are six 0:51:36.440 --> 0:51:39.879 people that are completely separated from everyone else, no one 0:51:39.920 --> 0:51:44.560 gets sick because viruses and can't just spontaneously pop up. 0:51:44.600 --> 0:51:48.360 You could get uh, some food poisoning or something. And 0:51:48.400 --> 0:51:50.759 in fact, one of the participants did get hit by 0:51:50.800 --> 0:51:55.400 like a stomach bug of some sort or just maybe 0:51:55.440 --> 0:51:57.359 something they just did not agree with them for one 0:51:57.400 --> 0:52:00.919 reason or another. But apart from that, they couldn't pass 0:52:00.960 --> 0:52:03.160 anything along to each other because they were all healthy 0:52:03.160 --> 0:52:05.200 when they went into the habitat, so I said that 0:52:05.239 --> 0:52:08.640 was kind of cool, But keeping people happy when isolated 0:52:08.640 --> 0:52:11.520 for a really long time is very difficult. According to 0:52:11.560 --> 0:52:13.560 members of the crew, one of the best ways to 0:52:13.600 --> 0:52:19.680 improve morale is through emergencies. Really, because an emergency requires 0:52:19.680 --> 0:52:22.600 the crew to work together and focus on a particular task. 0:52:22.719 --> 0:52:27.520 You cannot act as a lone wolf or else everybody 0:52:27.560 --> 0:52:30.880 dies the mission is in jeopardy. So when the emergency 0:52:30.960 --> 0:52:33.719 is over, everyone feels satisfied and they feel closer to 0:52:33.760 --> 0:52:37.359 each other. But being in those close quarters for that 0:52:37.480 --> 0:52:41.279 long doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna be the best of 0:52:41.320 --> 0:52:45.560 buddies with everyone when it's over. The participants have been 0:52:46.000 --> 0:52:51.440 pretty diplomatic about this, but it's clear that some folks 0:52:51.800 --> 0:52:53.840 are gonna be in touch with each other for a 0:52:53.920 --> 0:52:57.600 very long time and other folks maybe not so much. Um, 0:52:57.719 --> 0:53:00.800 So it's not like everyone becomes in separable at the 0:53:00.880 --> 0:53:03.839 end of this, so that's kind of interesting. There's very 0:53:03.840 --> 0:53:06.920 little privacy in the habitat. I mean, everyone has their 0:53:06.960 --> 0:53:09.000 own private bedroom. But that bedroom, like I says, a 0:53:09.080 --> 0:53:13.319 closet um, and there's no real space to kind of 0:53:13.920 --> 0:53:16.719 get away unless you go to that bedroom, assuming that 0:53:16.800 --> 0:53:18.480 you have the time to do so, because you also 0:53:18.520 --> 0:53:23.600 have duties to perform, and most of the stuff the 0:53:23.600 --> 0:53:26.480 the actual possessions in the habitat were pretty much considered 0:53:26.480 --> 0:53:31.160 communal property. You could have private possessions, but you also 0:53:31.239 --> 0:53:33.799 understood that those private possessions might end up getting pulled 0:53:33.800 --> 0:53:37.000 into a solution to a problem. So it may mean 0:53:37.880 --> 0:53:41.560 the thing you were thinking of as yours becomes important 0:53:41.920 --> 0:53:46.680 to solve an engineering issue. It sounds very kind of 0:53:46.719 --> 0:53:50.040 mcgeiver ishu, but it's true. And it's also a challenge 0:53:50.080 --> 0:53:52.920 to learn how each person is going to respond to 0:53:53.120 --> 0:53:56.440 and manage the stress of being in this isolated environment. 0:53:57.560 --> 0:54:02.560 Some management strategies like being passive aggressive don't work in 0:54:02.640 --> 0:54:05.880 a small, enclosed environment where people can't get away from 0:54:05.920 --> 0:54:09.200 each other. And also you had the challenge of cultural 0:54:09.200 --> 0:54:13.440 differences being involved. This was an international series of missions, 0:54:13.960 --> 0:54:16.440 meaning that there were people from all different parts of 0:54:16.480 --> 0:54:19.640 the world who could potentially be part of this. Now 0:54:19.719 --> 0:54:22.560 that meant a couple of different things. That cultural differences 0:54:22.600 --> 0:54:25.879 could rear up and cause friction. But it also meant 0:54:25.880 --> 0:54:29.600 that people got to try different cuisines from other parts 0:54:29.600 --> 0:54:31.359 of the world, and apparently that was one of the 0:54:31.400 --> 0:54:35.000 big things. People really like the idea of trying stuff 0:54:35.840 --> 0:54:40.239 like home cooked meals from other cultures, and it was 0:54:40.600 --> 0:54:44.239 an interesting way to broaden your horizons. But yeah, that 0:54:44.320 --> 0:54:49.120 cultural difference could also pose an issue with communication. So, 0:54:49.239 --> 0:54:51.600 like I said, basic for Weight himself was saying, sometimes 0:54:51.600 --> 0:54:55.240 they would just plan an impromptu e V, a extra 0:54:55.320 --> 0:55:00.160 vehicular activity, essentially a Mars walk, just to alleviate boredom. 0:55:00.200 --> 0:55:02.360 That you would go through the whole process of suiting 0:55:02.400 --> 0:55:04.480 up and going through the airlock, which could take around 0:55:04.560 --> 0:55:07.520 an hour to do. Uh, that's a lot of work 0:55:07.640 --> 0:55:14.759 just to avoid tedium. Now, this particular mission, Mission four 0:55:15.200 --> 0:55:19.279 of High Seas is over. It's not the only time 0:55:19.320 --> 0:55:23.359 we've ever seen people try to simulate the isolation people 0:55:23.400 --> 0:55:26.800 would feel if they were to go to Mars. Actually, 0:55:26.800 --> 0:55:30.120 in Russia, there have been a series of three experiments 0:55:31.160 --> 0:55:35.520 where people were living in a simulated spacecraft. The three 0:55:35.520 --> 0:55:40.200 experiments collectively totaled sixty days, and the last of the 0:55:40.280 --> 0:55:45.480 three experiments was five hundred twenty days, so like a 0:55:45.560 --> 0:55:50.840 year and a half of isolation. The mission included a 0:55:50.880 --> 0:55:54.399 simulated landing on Mars that long one did, as well 0:55:54.440 --> 0:55:57.240 as three e v A s on the Martian surface. 0:55:58.080 --> 0:56:01.480 According to the Russians at the time, everything turned out swimmingly. 0:56:02.800 --> 0:56:04.600 There have been some other reports that said that there 0:56:04.640 --> 0:56:08.799 were you know, there were issues, not nothing that would 0:56:08.840 --> 0:56:13.160 stop the mission, but that not everything was absolutely perfect 0:56:13.200 --> 0:56:16.640 as you might have been led to believe. Um, so 0:56:16.760 --> 0:56:18.959 there could be some propaganda stuff going on in there. 0:56:19.840 --> 0:56:22.719 I would imagine any group, even if you have very 0:56:22.760 --> 0:56:28.080 disciplined people, would suffer setbacks now and again just because 0:56:28.719 --> 0:56:33.200 of the various different personalities and the stress involved. But 0:56:33.280 --> 0:56:36.920 what's next, Well, the next High Seas experiment is already 0:56:36.920 --> 0:56:40.960 in the planning stages. If you wanted to apply, oops, 0:56:41.680 --> 0:56:43.480 because this episode is going to come out too late 0:56:43.520 --> 0:56:46.040 for you to do that. I'm recording this on September two, 0:56:46.120 --> 0:56:50.319 two sixteen, but applications are due on September five, and 0:56:50.400 --> 0:56:52.799 this episode goes up after that, And as far as 0:56:52.840 --> 0:56:56.600 I know, the applications are for both of the last 0:56:56.680 --> 0:56:59.960 two missions that are scheduled. One schedule for two seventeen, 0:57:00.360 --> 0:57:03.640 one schedule for two thousand and eighteen. They're both going 0:57:03.680 --> 0:57:09.000 to last eight months long each, so I apologize if 0:57:09.080 --> 0:57:13.160 you wanted to apply, it's too late. Those are supposed 0:57:13.200 --> 0:57:16.080 to be the two final experiments for high seas, though 0:57:16.120 --> 0:57:19.160 you never know, there may be another high seas experiment, 0:57:19.240 --> 0:57:23.520 perhaps a redesigned habitat um. I don't know how that's 0:57:23.560 --> 0:57:26.040 going to turn out after these last two missions, or 0:57:26.080 --> 0:57:28.360 if the whole thing will just say all right, here's 0:57:28.360 --> 0:57:31.240 all the data we gathered and now this branch of 0:57:31.280 --> 0:57:35.439 experimentation is over. That's a possibility, And then of course 0:57:35.480 --> 0:57:37.880 we have the long term goal of actually going to Mars. 0:57:38.760 --> 0:57:42.120 A Martian habitat might be at least partially underground in 0:57:42.200 --> 0:57:45.960 a future Mars colony. The reason to put a Martian 0:57:46.120 --> 0:57:49.440 colony underground is to protect against that radiation I was 0:57:49.440 --> 0:57:53.080 talking about. You would want protection from cosmic radiation as 0:57:53.120 --> 0:57:56.160 well as X rays, ultraviolet rays, that kind of stuff, 0:57:56.560 --> 0:58:00.240 and the Martian soil could do that for you. Since 0:58:00.240 --> 0:58:03.440 there's no magnetosphere or not a strong one anyway to 0:58:03.520 --> 0:58:07.240 protect you, you could protect yourself by burying your habitats 0:58:07.400 --> 0:58:09.840 under the ground, So you would probably have a few 0:58:09.880 --> 0:58:14.720 surface level buildings with tunnels that lead down into underground 0:58:14.720 --> 0:58:18.160 habitats where people were actually living, and you would do 0:58:18.320 --> 0:58:20.920 the same process of getting into a space suit if 0:58:20.920 --> 0:58:24.640 you want to emerge out on the Martian surface. One 0:58:24.680 --> 0:58:27.320 of the different proposals I have seen a lot of 0:58:27.360 --> 0:58:32.440 different UH proposed missions to Mars involved. This would include 0:58:32.440 --> 0:58:37.320 sending robots ahead of time to go and excavate an 0:58:37.360 --> 0:58:41.240 area where then they could assemble at least some of 0:58:41.280 --> 0:58:46.200 the habitats and then piled dirt regulus on top of 0:58:46.240 --> 0:58:49.920 them to bury them. And that way astronauts when they 0:58:50.000 --> 0:58:52.480 arrive at Mars would already have a place to go to. 0:58:52.680 --> 0:58:55.880 They wouldn't have to set it up themselves. That seems 0:58:55.880 --> 0:58:58.920 pretty intelligent to me. They would also involve sending cargo 0:58:58.960 --> 0:59:01.840 ahead of time so that when the mark the the 0:59:01.840 --> 0:59:06.360 the Martian UH colonists or the explorers more likely explorers 0:59:06.360 --> 0:59:10.640 than colonists. First off, when they land, they would already 0:59:10.680 --> 0:59:12.920 have some of their stuff there. They wouldn't have to 0:59:12.920 --> 0:59:16.080 take everything with them, and thus again you could spread 0:59:16.120 --> 0:59:21.000 out the weight of all of that stuff across multiple 0:59:21.080 --> 0:59:23.040 launches instead of trying to pack it all into a 0:59:23.080 --> 0:59:27.440 single one, and they could then take those that cargo 0:59:27.600 --> 0:59:31.200 storied in the proper space and start their mission uh, 0:59:31.240 --> 0:59:34.200 probably for a couple of years, and then try a 0:59:34.240 --> 0:59:38.160 return trip to Earth. We're talking about probably a full 0:59:38.680 --> 0:59:40.720 like three to three and a half years for a 0:59:40.720 --> 0:59:43.800 full Martian mission, when you include the trips out to 0:59:43.880 --> 0:59:48.280 Mars back from Mars, and the time spent on Mars. Uh. 0:59:48.720 --> 0:59:50.840 I think it's really exciting, and I love that we 0:59:50.920 --> 0:59:56.680 have been working very seriously on designing a habitat that 0:59:57.160 --> 1:00:01.960 meets both the technical requirements we would have on Mars 1:00:02.040 --> 1:00:06.320 and the psychological requirements we would have. Because if you've 1:00:06.360 --> 1:00:11.480 ever really used any technology developed entirely just by engineers, 1:00:11.920 --> 1:00:15.600 you may notice will it works, but it doesn't work 1:00:15.600 --> 1:00:19.920 in a way that seems natural or intuitive. Sometimes that happens, 1:00:20.240 --> 1:00:22.000 and it may be that it makes perfect sense. It 1:00:22.040 --> 1:00:24.479 just requires you to think in a very specific way. 1:00:24.560 --> 1:00:28.160 You have to adjust your behavior and your thinking so 1:00:28.200 --> 1:00:31.680 that you get the most out of that piece of technology. 1:00:31.720 --> 1:00:35.640 But when you're talking about people living on another planet, 1:00:36.000 --> 1:00:38.720 you want that to be effortless. You don't want to 1:00:38.720 --> 1:00:42.400 have to adjust your thinking and your behavior to your destination, 1:00:42.960 --> 1:00:46.280 or at least not entirely. Some of that is absolutely necessary. 1:00:46.360 --> 1:00:50.240 Because of the differences between Mars and Earth. But you 1:00:50.280 --> 1:00:56.120 want the the habitat two be as much benefit to 1:00:56.160 --> 1:01:00.840 you as possible. So anyway, thank you so much Jeremiah 1:01:01.160 --> 1:01:04.640 for the suggestion. I really appreciate it. This was a 1:01:04.640 --> 1:01:07.120 lot of fun to look into. Um I'm sad that 1:01:07.200 --> 1:01:10.000 I was not able to see this habitat the last 1:01:10.000 --> 1:01:12.080 time I was in Hawaii, which was not that long ago. 1:01:12.080 --> 1:01:15.120 When I was less in Hawaii, this experiment was underway. 1:01:15.160 --> 1:01:19.880 They were inside the habitat, but it's not exactly on 1:01:19.960 --> 1:01:22.720 an easily accessible part of Manta Loah, which is part 1:01:22.720 --> 1:01:24.440 of the point, right. You wouldn't want it to be 1:01:24.480 --> 1:01:27.520 easily accessible. Then you could put the whole experiment at 1:01:27.640 --> 1:01:30.480 risk with tourists just walking up and standing on the 1:01:30.520 --> 1:01:32.880 surface of Mars in the background of the pictures as 1:01:32.920 --> 1:01:36.320 astronauts are trying to do missions. That would be a 1:01:36.320 --> 1:01:40.000 little silly. So I totally understand. But still it's kind 1:01:40.000 --> 1:01:42.160 of a bummer because I would love to see this place. 1:01:42.520 --> 1:01:45.040 I mean, I really really would love to see this place, 1:01:45.160 --> 1:01:47.080 and I got to Hawaii a lot. So if anyone 1:01:47.120 --> 1:01:50.160 at High Seas is like, hey, when we're not doing 1:01:50.200 --> 1:01:53.720 a mission, we're not doing an experiment. UH, and you 1:01:53.760 --> 1:01:56.439 want to see this space, come on over. Please let 1:01:56.480 --> 1:01:58.920 me know, because I will do it in a heartbeat. 1:01:58.960 --> 1:02:01.200 I will book a trip to Hawaii so I can 1:02:01.240 --> 1:02:04.000 see it. First of all, I love Hawaii, UH and 1:02:04.040 --> 1:02:06.280 I would love to go back again. And second of all, 1:02:06.600 --> 1:02:08.800 I think it would be the experience of a lifetime 1:02:09.080 --> 1:02:12.000 even just to walk around this habitat and see the 1:02:12.040 --> 1:02:15.920 condition of the space and how what it must feel 1:02:15.960 --> 1:02:18.920 like to be in that space, even just for a 1:02:18.960 --> 1:02:22.720 few like a half hour, as opposed to a full year, 1:02:23.320 --> 1:02:26.480 It would be phenomenal. But I hold out very little 1:02:26.480 --> 1:02:28.640 hope that anyone that high sees is listening to this 1:02:29.320 --> 1:02:32.040 um if they are passed along, I'd love to check 1:02:32.040 --> 1:02:36.080 it out. Guys, this has been a fantastic time for me. 1:02:36.160 --> 1:02:38.400 I hope you've enjoyed it. I didn't go into too 1:02:38.480 --> 1:02:41.720 much pirate voice, so I hope that helps, and didn't 1:02:41.720 --> 1:02:45.720 make too many high seas funds. I really look forward 1:02:45.760 --> 1:02:49.080 to tackling a lot more UH topics that you guys choose. 1:02:49.200 --> 1:02:52.200 Just send me messages, send me an email the addresses 1:02:52.200 --> 1:02:54.840 tech stuff at how stuff works dot com, or send 1:02:54.840 --> 1:02:56.960 it to me on Twitter or Facebook. At both of 1:02:56.960 --> 1:02:59.760 those the handles text stuff hs W. You can also 1:02:59.800 --> 1:03:03.200 fall allow my personal Twitter account that's John Strickland, j 1:03:03.360 --> 1:03:06.000 O N S t R I C K L A 1:03:06.200 --> 1:03:09.240 N D and UM. I post all the time from there, 1:03:09.800 --> 1:03:12.640 often about my dog, So if you don't want to 1:03:12.640 --> 1:03:15.400 see that, it's I don't blame you, but he is 1:03:15.440 --> 1:03:18.080 adorable and you should look at him because he's the cutest. 1:03:18.960 --> 1:03:21.600 You guys, have a great day. I will talk to 1:03:21.640 --> 1:03:29.640 you again really soon for more on this and thousands 1:03:29.680 --> 1:03:41.480 of other topics. Because it has staff works dot com