NASA may have just recently announced the 4 astronauts set to head back to the moon for the first time in over 50 years, but the moon is only a jumping off point. The US space agency is hoping to get human feet on the Martian surface in the next decade. And when they do land, this might be the kind of structure they live in.
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00:00NASA may have just recently announced the four astronauts set to head back to the moon
00:08for the first time in over 50 years, but the moon is just a jumping off point.
00:12The U.S. Space Agency is hoping to get human feet on the Martian surface in the next decade.
00:17And when they do land, this might be the kind of structure they live in.
00:20This is the 3D printed habitat for humans NASA will use to train astronauts for their
00:24grueling life on Mars.
00:26Here's NASA's Advanced Food Technology Lead Scientist Grace Douglas to explain.
00:30So the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, or CHPEA, was developed as a one year
00:39Mars surface simulation with the intent that we can have crew in isolation and confinement
00:46with Mars realistic restrictions and we can really start to understand how those restrictions
00:52are associated with their health and performance over that year.
00:56It's located at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
01:00It has four small bedrooms and two bathrooms, as well as a handful of other amenities including
01:04an exercise room and a small garden.
01:06But when the astronauts enter for their one year Mars simulation, they're going to stay
01:10in here for that entire time.
01:11Besides the isolation, confinement and the sheer distance would be things like being
01:18able to get along.
01:19So when you're in a small habitat with three other people, that can wear on you over time.
01:25But that's just one of the hurdles we'll have to figure out before humankind sets foot on
01:30the red planet.