45 DAYS TRIP TO MARS
(The Quiver) : Four humans have begun a 45-day mission to travel to Mars’s moon Phobos. Phobos are the the innermost and larger of the two natural satellites of Mars. No, they are not actually travelling to Mars as of yet, the four member of the crew are set to explore the scenarios and to understand the effects of long -duration space travel .
The mission is structured under Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA), aiming for serving as a testbed for the mission that will be organised in the future. The crew will be in 45 days journey in an exploration mission to Phobos, one of Mars’s moons.
The four crew members include Jared Broddrick, Pietro Di Tillio, Dragos Michael Popescu, and Patrick Ridgley.
During the 45-day mission, the crew will conduct science experiments and face the isolation, confinement, and time delays of a long space mission.
KNOW ABOUT HERA MISSION
Hera is an analogue mission that prepares astronauts, engineers and teams on the ground for near term and future exploration to asteroids , Mars and the Moon .The Hera missions include testing new technologies, robotic equipment, vehicles, habitats, communications, power generation, mobility, infrastructure, and storage. Behavioral effects such as isolation and confinement, team dynamics, menu fatigue, and others are also observed.
“In this HERA campaign, we’re learning more about how teams function in an autonomous environment where they have limited contact with Earth,” Brandon Vessey, research operations and integration element scientist had said earlier.
During the 45-day-long mission, scientists will conduct 15 studies with seven returning investigations and eight new ones. According to Nasa the data collected as part of these missions will continue to help prepare humans for Artemis exploration missions to the Moon, trips to the planned lunar Gateway outpost, and long-duration missions to Mars.
