HI-SEAS Mission 3 on Mauna Loa Begins October 15th

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

“I’m like the fake Chris Hadfield,” jokes Martha Lenio, the 34-year-old Canadian chosen to lead the crew of Americans. “I’m the leader of a fake mission to fake space.”

The third HI-SEAS mission to simulate a trip to Mars "takes off" on the Big Island tomorrow, October 15th. Six earth-tronauts will live in a geodesic dome & shipping container on the slopes of Mauna Loa for eight months. Their electricity will be produced from solar panels, water and nutrients will be recycled to produce vegetables in a small garden. They plan to study resource sustainability, the effects of communication delay, and how participants react in close quarters.

Mauna Loa is the second-largest volcano in the solar system, behind Olympus Mons on Mars. Both are shield volcanoes created by millennia of lava flow. The two look eerily similar.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technolog...e20930463/

[The_Saints]

quote:

---

Originally posted by HereOnThePrimalEdge

Six earth-tronauts will live in a geodesic dome & shipping container on the slopes of Mauna Loa for eight months. Their electricity will be produced from solar panels, water and nutrients will be recycled to produce vegetables in a small garden. They plan to study resource sustainability, the effects of communication delay, and how participants react in close quarters.

---

Why are they doing it all the way up there? This sounds like an average day for many in Puna. ;o)

[leilanidude]

Didn't they do this a year or two ago as well, with another group of people?

[Wao nahele kane]

It may be the temperatures they are interested in and averaged sunlight to that of a Mars location.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

quote:

---

Originally posted by leilanidude

Didn't they do this a year or two ago as well

---

Yes, this is the third mission. Each one builds on the previous mission.

As The_Saints points out, there are a lot of similarities on their "mission to Mars" to an average day in Puna. Interesting, isn't it? Here's their web page, with a twitter feed on the right side of the page for updates:

http://hi-seas.org/