[sound effects and music]
It’s only a matter of time before humans step foot on a new
planetary body in our solar system. And with that in mind
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is learning how to develop
instruments that would be used by humans to conduct exploration
and research. One research program actively involved in
this pursuit sits in isolation in a habitat on the slopes of
the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawai’i. It’s called HI-SEAS –
and the Mars-like conditions and geology of the landscape allow
the crews there to perform field tests and experiments that give
a mission simulation an extra dose of realism. Today,
scientists from NASA Goddard are nearby, deploying an instrument
known as the mini-LHR, which measures methane and carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere. The goal is to allow the HI-SEAS
crew to simulate how an astronaut would interact with
the instrument on another planet. The task is also
designed to explore how NASA might approach an in-mission
training with a new instrument that a crew has never seen
before. This HI-SEAS adventure therefore has numerous
components for NASA to monitor. And it all begins with the crew
making the long trek over the old lava flows to the site of
the mini-LHR. Once there, the team will get the instrument
working so that it can start its actual data collection. On
another planet, this atmospheric data would be important for
understanding elements related to climate and habitability. The
interaction between the HI-SEAS team and the mini-LHR is in
itself a test – designed to monitor changes in the
environment that are occurring naturally, or as a response to
the human presence. By participating in this type of
fieldwork study, NASA Goddard’s instrument field team is making
great strides toward the larger mission of getting humans on the
surface of another planet. And as the HI-SEAS crew can attest,
doing so is no easy walk in the park.
[beeping]