I had no idea this was happening, but earlier this week the first mission of NASA’s Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) concluded, where four crew members lived in isolation for over a year in a habitat simulating Mars! Specifically:

This high-fidelity simulation involved the crew carrying out different types of mission objectives, including simulated “marswalks,” robotic operations, habitat maintenance, exercise, and crop growth. The crew also faced intentional environmental stressors in their habitat such as resource limitations, isolation, and confinement.

CHAPEA crew entering the habitat, where they lived in isolation for 378 days (via NASA).

According to Jalopnik: “Even communications between the CHAPEA and mission control were artificially delayed by 22 minutes to replicate the distance it would have to travel between parties on Mars and Earth.”

Their 1,700 square foot base was a 3D printed structure using “Martian clay” to understand the feasibility of building habitats without having to launch huge quantities of building materials.

The second CHAPEA mission will happen in 2025!

Voyager 1, launched on September of 1977, is currently the farthest man-made object in space. Here’s where Voyager 1 and its sister Voyager 2 are in context of our Solar System and other launched spacecraft:

Via NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA/JPL-Caltech, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Starting in November 2023, Voyager 1 had been transmitting unreliable data and scientists feared that it might mean the end of its mission. However, for the first time in months, engineers were able to bring Voyager 1 back to being operational!

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are the only operational spacecraft that have gone beyond the heliosphere into the “interstellar space” so their data is incredibly valuable.

You may also remember the Voyager spacecrafts both carry a copy of the “Golden Record”. I’ll probably post another blog post about this fascinating example of visual representation of information.

NASA/JPL, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Do visit NASA’s Voyager 1 website and see all the contributions the spacecraft has made thus far, including this amazing timelapse when it approached Jupiter in 1979: