Why is NASA sending its astronauts to the bottom of the ocean?
By Joseph Dussault, Christian Science Monitor From Business Insider
On Thursday [21], NASA sent a team of astronauts and scientists more than 60 feet below sea level for a 16-day underwater expedition. NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 21, or NEEMO, is designed to simulate scenarios that may arise in future Mars missions.
“Equipment can fail, communication can be challenging, and tasks can take longer than expected. Other tasks go just as planned. All cases are equally beneficial,” NEEMO Project Lead Bill Todd said in a statement. “It’s how we learn and how we are able to assemble all of this together so that someday we’re prepared for the unexpected when we are living on and traversing the Martian surface.”
In Aquarius, NASA’s undersea habitat, the NEEMO crew will live in spacecraft-like conditions while testing new software and technologies, such as a mini-DNA sequencer. On simulated spacewalks, astronauts will collect biological and geological samples. The mission will report back to NASA regularly, in preparation for deep-space communication delays
The first half of the NEEMO mission will be led by NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, an ISS veteran who was a naval aviator and test pilot before joining the agency. The second half of the expedition will be led by NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, a PhD oceanographer who was also involved in the 2009 STS-125 shuttle mission.
NASA has set its sights on the red planet in recent months, announcing plans to send a crewed mission to Mars sometime in the 2030s. In July, the agency commissioned five domestic aerospace companies to design new Mars orbiters.
In the meantime, NASA is preparing for the 2020 launch of a new Mars rover. The successor to Curiosity will hunt for signs of ancient Martian life, meanwhile laying the groundwork for future human exploration. Among other technologies, the rover will test a device that converts CO2 to pure oxygen.
But there may be one snag for future Mars missions: a shoestring budget. NASA’s budget for the new Rover was $1 billion less than its predecessor, The Christian Science Monitor reported in May.
Read the original article on Christian Science Monitor. Copyright 2016.
For more on this story go to: http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronauts-dive-into-ocean-for-mars-2016-7?utm_source=feedburner&%3Butm_medium=referral&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29
IMAGE: Karl Shreeves/NASAView Caption http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0726/Why-is-NASA-sending-its-astronauts-to-the-bottom-of-the-ocean
