Four volunteers have left NASA’s enclosed CHAPEA habitat in Houston after 378 days, completing the second simulated Mars mission. Families welcomed the crew at the exit ceremony. The team maintained its living space, grew crops and worked through restricted communications; researchers now have a two-week post-mission period for extensive interviews and measurements following the long isolation.
Four volunteers emerged from NASA's CHAPEA habitat in Houston after 378 days, completing their isolated ground mission. Families welcomed them at the exit ceremony covered by Houston Public Media. Ross Elder commanded the team; Ellen Ellis served as medical officer. Matthew Montgomery handled science duties and James Spicer was the flight engineer. Their departure from Johnson Space Center ended the second long Mars simulation.[1]
Co-investigator Suzanne Bell described the next two weeks as an important period for extensive debriefings and post-mission measurements. Researchers can now sit down directly with participants after collecting data throughout the isolation. Bell also described a two-week communications blackout inside the mission, intended to represent a possible interruption when the Sun lies between Earth and Mars.[1]
The crew lived inside a 3D-printed habitat in a hangar, with about 158 square metres of living space. Their tasks included habitat maintenance, crop growing, robotics and exercise under limited resources and restricted communications. CHAPEA investigates the human demands of long missions using an Earth-based analogue. The exit report establishes completion of the simulation; scientific findings from the collected health and performance data have yet to be presented in that report.[1]
