Simulating Mars in Hawaii:NASA and Partners Develop New Tools for Human Exploration Missions

NASA and its international and domestic academic partners have simulated a Mars mission on a Kilauea lava field in Hawaii.The Kilauea Iki crater where the latest study was held is similar to basalt-rich landscapes on Mars.The project is called the Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains,or BASALT.During the exercise,biologists,geologists and geochemists worked together to understand the lifeforms,such as bacteria,that grow on these rocks and the factors allowing them to thrive.This may help scientists choose the best sites to target for signs of life-current or past-on Mars.According to Darlene Lim,a scientist at NASA Ames Research Center,California:
It is a unique integration of science,operations and technology research in service of future human spaceflight.*
The 2017 field tests took place from 1-21 November and were a follow-on to two previous iterations of BASALT.The team thoroughly evaluated scientific methods,exploration procedures and new versions of software tools for planning explorer timelines,based on previous research.Innovative tools that allow multiple users to see and explore the Martian landscape were tested by collaborators from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory,California.This project is working to identify;design;test;and build the tools humans will need when they first set foot on Mars and begin to study a new world.*
Besides the NASA centres,researchers from the University of Edinburgh,Scotland,and McMaster and York Universities in Canada,participated along with US universities such as Cornell University,New York and Arizona State University.Astronaut Stan Love from the Johnson Space Center in Houston was one of the two researchers wearing 45-pound explorer packs carrying technology for relaying information to Mission Control "back on Earth."These two researchers tested navigation and data transmission tools and operated with communications delays and bandwidth limitations future space travelers will experience on Mars.