A couple of months ago Akash Trivedi was selected to take part in a two-week expedition as an analogue astronaut to the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the Utah desert. Late December, his crew completed the journey and arrived back on Earth from what was a truly out-of-this-world experience.
Over the two week period, Trivedi partook in multiple projects including; a fatigue study on the effects on human performance of a Martian shifted day 40 minutes longer than an Earth day; a geological study to better understand whether satellite and drone data can efficiently predict surface geomorphology and geochemistry; development of techniques for CPR and anaesthesia for long-duration space missions; an exercise using equipment that minimises mass; and developing communication methodologies for dealing with up to 20 minute time delays each way on Martian voyages. Alongside the projects unique to Trivedi's mission, there were also the routine tasks like the maintenance of the building where the crew lived and the engineering checks of the facility's numerous systems.
The purpose of the Mars Society's Research Station, according to Trivedi, is to conduct Earth-based research pursuing the technology, operations, and science required for developing human space exploration and the eventual colonisation of Mars. As Science and Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) Officer, his primary responsibility on the mission was to oversee the Matryoshkageological research project and to train the other members of the crew during the extra-vehicular activity.
"Mapping refinements also had to be made once we were on-site and had a clearer idea of the features in the local environment, the capabilities of the vehicles, and the restrictions that applied to venturing into the unknown."
The Mars Society provided the crew with a set of tasks that had to be completed during their stay. Engineering maintenance was one of the crucial functions, because, without life support systems, life on Mars will be short. The same applied to life in the Utah desert and so checking the hybrid diesel-solar power station daily became the priority of the crew.
Of the mission, Trivedi says “I had an amazing time during my stay at the station, and I owe most of it to the amazing crew. With long 16 hour days and living in such proximity, I was wary about who the people with me would be and how our interactions might be. Luckily, they were all needless worries and my fellow crew members made the stay exponentially more enjoyable, especially with the wide variety of board games played!”
It was not all fun and games, and the crew faced multiple adversities, including power failures, water pipes freezing, among others. Trivedi and the rest of Crew no 184 have reason to be proud having managed to pull together in the worst of times to overcome these obstacles and with humour.
“The reason we accomplished as much as we did during our stay was manyfold: the fact that we were standing on the shoulders of the previous 183 crews before us; the financial and moral support of the various individuals and organisations involved in our mission; the academic contributions of the researchers who contributed to the mission proposal; and last but not least, Shannon Rupert and the Mars Society who brought us all together and supported us incessantly during our two-week stay at MDRS.” Akash's DPhil research focuses on the high strain rate properties of soft materials supporting a US Air Force project.
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