>> Narrator Joe Joyce, UH Manoa student: Friday
morning, March 28, 2014: the HI-SEAS crew
is busy packing and preparing.
HI-SEAS stands for Hawaii Space Exploration
Analog and Simulation.
The three men and three women are hours away
from the start of their mission: 120 days
of isolation in an extremely remote, thousand
square foot habitat on Mauna Loa, Hawaii;
8,200 feet above sea level.
They can only leave the geodesic dome in simulation
space suits.
The object of the University of Hawaii at
Manoa project is to research how teams of
astronauts will perform during long-duration
space exploration to destinations like Mars.
It’s estimated a Mars mission would take
three years to complete.
>> Kim Binsted, UH Manoa HI-SEAS principal
investigator: Missions like this, reduce the
risk of going to Mars.
By practicing here on Earth, rehearsing the
things we need to do on a trip to Mars, we
are making it possible.
>> Narrator: The first HI-SEAS mission in
2013 was a food study.
NASA has now committed $1.2 million to UH
Manoa for the next three HI-SEAS missions.
The focus of mission number two is crew cohesion.
>> Binsted: There going to be taking a whole
bunch of psych tests, looking at their mood,
looking at how they relate to each other,
looking at the cognitive skills and how they
change over time, but we are also going to
be measuring their performance.
>> Narrator: The habitat will simulate a base
on Mars and each crewmember has a role to
play.
>> Casey Stedman, HI-SEAS mission commander:
I will be responsible for the safety of the
crew, meeting the tasks and objectives, both
scientific and daily functions.”
>> Ron Williams, HI-SEAS crew member: I will
be focusing pretty heavily on psychological
adjustment and team dynamics, group cohesiveness.”
>> Ross Lockwood, HI-SEAS crew member: Maintaining
equipment, knowing how things work here and
there, being able to fix things quickly with
improvised materials.
>> Narrator: Except for the mission commander,
each is also working on a scientific project
or projects.
>> Tiffany Swarmer, HI-SEAS crew member: We
are going to be testing out some 3D printed
surgical tools in isolated, confined and extreme
environments essentially.”
>> Lucie Poulet, HI-SEAS crew member: I will
have an experiment where I will have lights
and plants, and I will grow the plants and
once I have taken the data of the plants,
we will be able to eat them.
>> Annie Caraccio, HI-SEAS crew member: Repurposing
trash and waste from long duration space missions
and converting it into useful commodities.
>> Binsted: Not only does it make for a realistic
mission, so the crew will have real work to
do, but we will be giving NASA really good
bang for its buck.
>> Narrator: Before the long drive up Mauna
Loa, the crew gathered for a final first aid
training course.
The six were selected from more than 120 very
qualified candidates from all over the world.
>> Stedman: We all had to meet certain physical
and health requirements, we all had to meet
certain education requirements, we all had
to pass a certain bar of experience too and
I think that is going to help a great deal.
>> Narrator: The crewmembers will be providing
updates via Facebook and Twitter, just search
for HI-SEAS.
The crew finally arrived at the habitat just
after sunset in a steady rain with the temperature
hovering in the low 40s.
They battled the elements as they moved their
supplies and gear inside.
>> Caraccio: Right now, I feel wet but I am
trying to imagine it’s a Mars sandstorm.
So, no I’m, it is a relief to finally get
started.
I’ve been mentally preparing for a while
now, so I am ready to get in there and get
the mission going.
>> Poulet: I still can’t believe it.
I’m still not realizing that we are going
to be locked in for 120 days but very excited
about it.
>> Narrator: A short time later, the crew
stepped into the habitat, their new home for
the next four months, waved goodbye and closed
the door.
The UH Manoa run mission is scheduled to end
in late July.
