Off they go into the deep sea!
In order to succeed its plan to send men to deep space, NASA trains a team of experts in the deep sea at the bottom of Atlantic Ocean.
As part of Mars mission preparation, scientists and astronauts will be diving deep for simulation that could happen in the Red Planet. The expedition will take 16 days to complete and the team has to go as deep as 62 feet (19 meters) under.
NASA Mars mission preparation sends crew to deep sea
Working with Eurpoean Space Agency, the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 21 or NEEMO will be testing all the challenges that might occur during Mars mission, for instance, the communication or system failure. There will be two expeditions in the NEEMO mission. One will be led by veteran and naval aviator Reid Wiseman and the second will be led by oceanographer Megan McArthur.
.@NASA astronauts prepare for isolation and extreme conditions on Mars with deep-sea training: https://t.co/45h6Ll8q1N pic.twitter.com/vR6Yr1wXgs
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) July 17, 2015
Project leader Bill Todd explained that this helps the crew to learn more and prepare more for any unexpected event in Martian surface, Regal Tribune reported.
The spacecraft underwater has a similar design to the one they will use in Mars. For 16 days, the crew will stay in the habitat called Aquarius Reef Base and analyze tasks on the ocean floor.
There will be technologies and software put on tests to prepare any communication delay. This will include DNA sequencer called Minion - which can track astronaut's health. And the astronauts will also gather geological and biological samples, and report them back to the station. The underwater expedition will also test wearable mobiPV - the hands -free gear to access scientific data; and AquaPad to effectively filter the water.
NASA spokesperson stated that this training session will be useful to improve the crew's skills in building structures in microgravity.
