Jump to content
Join the Alien Search, login or register FREE on Aliens and Space Forum
Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site

Voyagers of Mars: The First CHAPEA Crew’s Yearlong Journey 

NASA

By NASA
in NASA

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Publishers
NASA Mentor

NASA

Posted
  • Publishers
Posted

When the first humans travel to the Red Planet, they will need to know how to repair and maintain equipment, grow their own food, and stay healthy, all while contending with Earth-to-Mars communication delays. They must also find ways to build comradery and have fun. 

The first all-volunteer CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) crew accomplished all of that and more during their 378-day analog mission on the surface of Mars.  

Living in the isolated Mars Dune Alpha, a 3D-printed, 1,700-square-foot habitat, crew members Kelly Haston, Ross Brockwell, Nathan Jones, and Anca Selariu faced the rigors of a simulated Mars expedition, enduring stressors akin to those of a real mission to the Red Planet. They also celebrated holidays and birthdays, gave each other haircuts, and found moments of levity in isolation. Their journey will help scientists understand the challenges of deep space missions and offer invaluable insights into the resilience of the human spirit. 

A woman in a black NASA jumpsuit is shaking hands with a man in a blue NASA astronaut suit. Another man in a blue suit is clapping. They are standing at the entrance of a building with NASA logos and other mission patches on the wall.
NASA’s CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) crew member Kelly Haston greets Deputy Director of Flight Operations Kjell Lindgren and Johnson Space Center Deputy Director Stephen Koerner at the habitat’s door.
NASA/Josh Valcarcel

As the crew concluded their journey on July 6, NASA astronaut and Deputy Director of Flight Operations Kjell Lindgren opened the habitat door and welcomed them home. 

“The crew and their families have committed a year of their lives in service to NASA, the country, and humanity’s exploration of space. Thank you to for committing yourselves to research that will enable our future exploration of space,” he said. “Your fingerprints are going to be an indelible part of those first footprints on Mars.” 

The CHAPEA crew brought their diverse backgrounds and experiences to the mission, collaborating with NASA’s scientists and engineers to collect data that will provide insight into maintaining crew health and performance for future missions to Mars. 

Four people in black NASA jumpsuits are standing in front of a building with NASA logos and mission patches on the wall. They are smiling and holding mission patches, posing for a group photo.
PHOTO DATE: July 06, 2024 LOCATION: Bldg. 220 – CHAPEA Habitat SUBJECT: ASA Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) Mars Analog Mission 1 Egress Event with crew Anca Selariu, Nathan Jones, Kelly Haston, Ross Brockwell. PHOTOGRAPHER: NASA/Josh Valcarcel
NASA/Josh Valcarcel

Kelly Haston: Mission Commander and Pioneering Scientist 

Haston, the mission commander, is a research scientist who builds human disease models. She has spearheaded innovative stem cell-based projects, deriving multiple cell types for work in infertility, liver disease, and neurodegeneration. Her role was pivotal in maintaining crew morale and ensuring the success of daily operations. 

She highlighted the importance of teamwork and adaptability in a mission with such high stakes.

“We had to rely on each other and our training to navigate the challenges we faced,” she said. “Every day brought new obstacles, but also new opportunities for growth and learning.” 

Nathan Jones: Medical Officer and Expert Communicator 

Jones, the crew medical officer, used his emergency and international medicine experience to tackle the unique challenges of the Mars mission. His expertise in problem-solving and effective communication in a time-sensitive and resource-limited environment was essential due to the approximately one-hour transmission delay. “Even something as simple as when to communicate is important,” said Jones. The crew had to consider what observations were essential to report to each other or Mission Control to avoid overburdening the team or unnecessarily using the limited bandwidth to Earth. 

“Everything we do in CHAPEA is touched by the heroes working on the ground at NASA,” he said. “We couldn’t ask for a better experience or better people to work with.” 

The experience evolved into a journey of personal growth for Jones. “I am constantly looking forward, planning for the future,” he said. “I learned to take time to enjoy the current season and be patient for the coming ones.” 

He also discovered a new hobby: art. “I have even surprised myself with how well some of my sketches have turned out,” he said. 

Anca Selariu: Microbiologist and Innovative Thinker 

Anca Selariu brought expertise as a microbiologist in the U.S. Navy, with a background in viral vaccine discovery, prion transmission, gene therapy development, and infectious disease research management. 

Selariu expressed that she owes much to the Navy, including her involvement in CHAPEA, as it helped shape her both personally and professionally. “I hope to bring back a fresh perspective, along with a strong inclination to think differently about a problem, and test which questions are worth asking before we set out answering them,” she said.  

Reflecting on the mission, Selariu said, “Every day seemed to be a new revelation about something; about Earth, about art, about humans, about cultures, about the history of life in the universe – what little we know of it.” 

She added, “As much as I appreciate having information at my fingertips, I will miss the luxury of being unplugged in a world that now validates humans by their digital presence.”  

Ross Brockwell: Structural Engineer and Problem Solver 

Brockwell, the mission’s flight engineer, focused on infrastructure, building design, and organizational leadership. His structural engineering background influenced his approach to problem solving in the CHAPEA habitat. 

“An engineering perspective leads you to build an understanding of how things will react and interact, anticipate possible failure points, and ensure redundancy and contingency planning,” he said. 

That mindset helped the crew develop creative solutions to mission challenges, such as using a 3D printer to design part adapters and tools and find ways to connect as a team. “Several things we wanted to do for fun required innovation, one being developing a bracket so we could safely and securely mount our mini-basketball hoop,” he said. 

He advises Artemis Generation members interested in contributing to future analog missions to think about systems engineering theory and learn to develop and integrate whole systems while solving individual challenges.  

Brockwell believes the most important attributes for a CHAPEA crew member are imagination and a strong sense of wonder. “Of course, one needs to have patience, self-control, emotional regulation, and a sense of humor,” he said. “I would also add perspective, which means understanding the importance of exploration missions on behalf of humankind and appreciating being part of something greater than oneself.” 

Four people wearing black NASA jumpsuits are standing in front of a white van with a CHAPEA mission logo. The individuals are wearing sunglasses and caps, and the background shows industrial equipment and power lines.
The CHAPEA crew is “back on Earth” after their 378-day mission inside the simulated Martian habitat.
NASA /Josh Valcarcel

A Vision for the Future 

As the first CHAPEA mission concludes, the data collected and experiences shared by the crew will pave the way for future explorations, bringing humanity one step closer to setting foot on Mars.  

“One of the biggest things I have learned on this long-duration mission is that we should never underestimate the effects of small gains over time,” said Jones. “Be willing to do the hard things now and it may make all the difference for the future.” 

Selariu emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in upcoming space missions. “What everyone at CHAPEA seems to have in common is passion for space and drive to pursue it no matter the challenges, inconvenience, and personal sacrifices.” 

Brockwell looks forward to missions to the Red Planet becoming a reality. “It still fills me with awe and excitement to think that one day there will be people on the surface of other worlds, overcoming immense challenges and expanding the existence and awareness of life from Earth.” 

View the full article

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Similar Topics

    • NASA
      NASA Astronaut Chris Williams Assigned to First Space Station Mission
      By NASA
      NASA astronaut Christopher Williams poses for a portrait at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.Credit: NASA NASA astronaut Chris Williams will embark on his first mission to the International Space Station, serving as a flight engineer and Expedition 74 crew member.
      Williams will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft in November, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. After launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the trio will spend approximately eight months aboard the orbiting laboratory.
      During his expedition, Williams will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations that help prepare humans for future space missions and benefit humanity.
      Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021, Williams graduated with the 23rd astronaut class in 2024. He began training for his first space station flight assignment immediately after completing initial astronaut candidate training.
      Williams was born in New York City, and considers Potomac, Maryland, his hometown. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Stanford University in California and a doctorate in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, where his research focused on astrophysics. Williams completed Medical Physics Residency training at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He was working as a clinical physicist and researcher at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston when he was selected as an astronaut.
      For more than two decades, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA is able to more fully focus its resources on deep space missions to the Moon and Mars.
      Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:
      https://www.nasa.gov/station
      -end-
      Josh Finch / Claire O’Shea
      Headquarters, Washington
      202-358-1100
      joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
      Chelsey Ballarte
      Johnson Space Center, Houston
      281-483-5111
      chelsey.n.ballarte@nasa.gov
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Apr 03, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
      Humans in Space International Space Station (ISS) ISS Research Johnson Space Center View the full article
    • NASA
      NASA’s SPHEREx Takes First Images, Preps to Study Millions of Galaxies
      By NASA
      5 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      NASA’s SPHEREx, which will map millions of galaxies across the entire sky, captured one of its first exposures March 27. The observatory’s six detectors each captured one of these uncalibrated images, to which visible-light colors have been added to represent infrared wavelengths. SPHEREx’s complete field of view spans the top three images; the same area of the sky is also captured in the bottom three images. NASA/JPL-Caltech Processed with rainbow hues to represent a range of infrared wavelengths, the new pictures indicate the astrophysics space observatory is working as expected.
      NASA’s SPHEREx (short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) has turned on its detectors for the first time in space. Initial images from the observatory, which launched March 11, confirm that all systems are working as expected.
      Although the new images are uncalibrated and not yet ready to use for science, they give a tantalizing look at SPHEREx’s wide view of the sky. Each bright spot is a source of light, like a star or galaxy, and each image is expected to contain more than 100,000 detected sources.
      There are six images in every SPHEREx exposure — one for each detector. The top three images show the same area of sky as the bottom three images. This is the observatory’s full field of view, a rectangular area about 20 times wider than the full Moon. When SPHEREx begins routine science operations in late April, it will take approximately 600 exposures every day.
      Each image in this uncalibrated SPHEREx exposure contains about 100,000 light sources, including stars and galaxies. The two insets at right zoom in on sections of one image, showcasing the telescope’s ability to capture faint, distant galaxies. These sections are processed in grayscale rather than visible-light color for ease of viewing.NASA/JPL-Caltech “Our spacecraft has opened its eyes on the universe,” said Olivier Doré, SPHEREx project scientist at Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, both in Southern California. “It’s performing just as it was designed to.”
      The SPHEREx observatory detects infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. To make these first images, science team members assigned a visible color to every infrared wavelength captured by the observatory. Each of the six SPHEREx detectors has 17 unique wavelength bands, for a total of 102 hues in every six-image exposure.
      Breaking down color this way can reveal the composition of an object or the distance to a galaxy. With that data, scientists can study topics ranging from the physics that governed the universe less than a second after its birth to the origins of water in our galaxy.
      “This is the high point of spacecraft checkout; it’s the thing we wait for,” said Beth Fabinsky, SPHEREx deputy project manager at JPL. “There’s still work to do, but this is the big payoff. And wow! Just wow!”
      During the past two weeks, scientists and engineers at JPL, which manages the mission for NASA, have executed a series of spacecraft checks that show all is well so far. In addition, SPHEREx’s detectors and other hardware have been cooling down to their final temperature of around minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit (about minus 210 degrees Celsius). This is necessary because heat can overwhelm the telescope’s ability to detect infrared light, which is sometimes called heat radiation. The new images also show that the telescope is focused correctly. Focusing is done entirely before launch and cannot be adjusted in space.
      “Based on the images we are seeing, we can now say that the instrument team nailed it,” said Jamie Bock, SPHEREx’s principal investigator at Caltech and JPL.
      How It Works
      Where telescopes like NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes were designed to target small areas of space in detail, SPHEREx is a survey telescope and takes a broad view. Combining its results with those of targeted telescopes will give scientists a more robust understanding of our universe.
      The observatory will map the entire celestial sky four times during its two-year prime mission. Using a technique called spectroscopy, SPHEREx will collect the light from hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies in more wavelengths any other all-sky survey telescope.
      Track the real-time location of NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory using the agency’s 3D visualization tool, Eyes on the Solar System. When light enters SPHEREx’s telescope, it’s directed down two paths that each lead to a row of three detectors. The observatory’s detectors are like eyes, and set on top of them are color filters, which are like color-tinted glasses. While a standard color filter blocks all wavelengths but one, like yellow- or rose-tinted glasses, the SPHEREx filters are more like rainbow-tinted glasses: The wavelengths they block change gradually from the top of the filter to the bottom.
      “I’m rendered speechless,” said Jim Fanson, SPHEREx project manager at JPL. “There was an incredible human effort to make this possible, and our engineering team did an amazing job getting us to this point.”
      More About SPHEREx
      The SPHEREx mission is managed by JPL for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace) built the telescope and the spacecraft bus. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data will be conducted by a team of scientists located at 10 institutions in the U.S., two in South Korea, and one in Taiwan. Caltech managed and integrated the instrument. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech. The mission’s principal investigator is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment. The SPHEREx dataset will be publicly available at the NASA-IPAC Infrared Science Archive. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
      For more about SPHEREx, visit:
      https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spherex/
      News Media Contact
      Calla Cofield
      Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
      626-808-2469
      calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov
      2025-045
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Apr 01, 2025 Related Terms
      SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) Astrophysics Galaxies Origin & Evolution of the Universe The Search for Life The Universe Explore More
      3 min read Discovery Alert: Four Little Planets, One Big Step
      The Discovery Four rocky planets much smaller than Earth orbit Barnard’s Star, the next closest…
      Article 13 hours ago 5 min read NASA Awards Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships for 2025
      The highly competitive NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) recently named 24 new fellows to its…
      Article 1 day ago 2 min read Hubble Spots a Chance Alignment
      The subject of today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is the stunning spiral galaxy NGC…
      Article 4 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics
      Missions
      Humans in Space
      Climate Change
      Solar System
      View the full article
    • NASA
      Visiting Mars on the Way to the Outer Solar System
      By NASA
      Explore This Section Perseverance Home Mission Overview Rover Components Mars Rock Samples Where is Perseverance? Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission Updates Science Overview Objectives Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Perseverance Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 3 min read
      Visiting Mars on the Way to the Outer Solar System
      Written by Roger Wiens, Principal Investigator, SuperCam instrument / Co-Investigator, SHERLOC instrument at Purdue University
      A portion of the “Sally’s Cove” outcrop where the Perseverance rover has been exploring. The radiating lines in the rock on the left of the image may indicate that it is a shatter cone, showing the effects of the shock wave from a nearby large impact. The image was taken by Mastcam-Z’s left camera on March 21, 2025 (Sol 1452, or Martian day 1,452 of the Mars 2020 mission) at the local mean solar time of 12:13:44. Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras located high on the rover’s mast. This image was voted by the public as “Image of the week.” NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU Recently Mars has had a few Earthly visitors. On March 1, NASA’s Europa Clipper flew within 550 miles (884 kilometers) of the Red Planet’s surface on its way out to Jupiter. On March 12, the European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft flew within about 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) of Mars, and only 300 kilometers from its moon, Deimos. Hera is on its way to study the binary asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos. Next year, in May 2026, NASA’s Psyche mission is scheduled to buzz the Red Planet on its way to the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche, coming within a few thousand kilometers.
      Why all these visits to Mars? You might at first think that they’re using Mars as an object of opportunity for their cameras, and you would be partially right. But Mars has more to give these missions than that. The main reason for these flybys is the extra speed that Mars’ velocity around the Sun can give them. The idea that visiting a planet can speed up a spacecraft is not all that obvious, because the same gravity that attracts the spacecraft on its way towards the planet will exert a backwards force as the spacecraft leaves the planet.
      The key is in the direction that it approaches and leaves the planet. If the spacecraft leaves Mars heading in the direction that Mars is traveling around the Sun, it will gain speed in that direction, slingshotting it farther into the outer solar system. A spacecraft can typically gain several percent of its speed by performing such a slingshot flyby. The closer it gets to the planet, the bigger the effect. However, no mission wants to be slowed by the upper atmosphere, so several hundred kilometers is the closest that a mission should go. And the proximity to the planet is also affected by the exact direction the spacecraft needs to go when it leaves Mars.
      Clipper’s Mars flyby was a slight exception, slowing down the craft — by about 1.2 miles per second (2 kilometers per second) — to steer it toward Earth for a second gravity assist in December 2026. That will push the spacecraft the rest of the way to Jupiter, for its 2030 arrival.
      While observing Mars is not the main reason for their visits, many of the visiting spacecraft take the opportunity to use their cameras either to perform calibrations or to study the Red Planet and its moons.
      During Clipper’s flyby over sols 1431-1432, Mastcam-Z was directed to watch the skies for signs of the interplanetary visitor. Clipper’s relatively large solar panels could have reflected enough sunlight for it to be seen in the Mars night sky, much as we can see satellites overhead from Earth. Unfortunately, the spacecraft entered the shadow of Mars just before it came into potential view above the horizon from Perseverance’s vantage point, so the sighting did not happen. But it was worth a try.
      Meanwhile, back on the ground, Perseverance is performing something of a cliff-hanger. “Sally’s Cove” is a relatively steep rock outcrop in the outer portion of Jezero crater’s rim just north of “Broom Hill.” Perseverance made an approach during March 19-23, and has been exploring some dark-colored rocks along this outcrop, leaving the spherules behind for the moment. Who knows what Perseverance will find next?
      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Mar 28, 2025 Related Terms
      Blogs Explore More
      2 min read Sols 4493-4494: Just Looking Around


      Article


      4 hours ago
      2 min read Sols 4491-4492: Classic Field Geology Pose


      Article


      2 days ago
      3 min read Sols 4488-4490: Progress Through the Ankle-Breaking Terrain (West of Texoli Butte, Climbing Southward)


      Article


      4 days ago
      Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Mars


      Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…


      All Mars Resources


      Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…


      Rover Basics


      Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…


      Mars Exploration: Science Goals


      The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

      View the full article
    • European Space Agency
      IRIDE first image presented at ESA–ESRIN
      By European Space Agency
      The first image from a new Italian Earth observation satellite mission was published today: a high-resolution image of a strip of the Italian peninsular showing the city of Rome at a resolution of 2.66 metres. This is three times higher than the resolution currently available for systematic acquisition over Italy.
      View the full article
    • European Space Agency
      First autonomous formation flight of double satellite Proba-3
      By European Space Agency
      Two spacecraft flying as one – that is the goal of European Space Agency’s Proba-3 mission. Earlier this week, the eclipse-maker moved a step closer to achieving that goal, as both spacecraft aligned with the Sun, maintaining their relative position for several hours without any control from the ground.
      View the full article

  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...