{"65227":{"#nid":"65227","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Students Spend Spring Break Exploring Mars","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECommon spring break destinations are often described as\nwarm, sunny and relaxing \u2014 but perhaps not always Martian.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe seventh Georgia Tech crew to visit the Mars Desert\nResearch Station safely returned to \u201cEarth\u201d at approximately 10 p.m. EDT on\nSunday.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ETen Georgia Tech students spent their spring break as members\nof Crew 101 on a simulated mission to Mars. During a two-week trip to the Mars\nDesert Research Station (MDRS) outside Hanksville, Utah, students conducted\nexperiments and research to develop knowledge needed for human exploration of the\nred planet. Professors coordinated with students to address work that was missed\nduring the first week of the mission prior to the start of spring break. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EMDRS was built in 2002 and is maintained by the Mars\nSociety, a nonprofit made up of space scientists, engineers and others\ninterested in advancing the case for sending humans to Mars. The Utah site has\nhosted students from the Mars Society at Georgia Tech since 2005. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCrew 101 is lucky to have a diverse\ncrew made up of aerospace engineers, a mechanical engineer, a polymer science\nengineer, a biologist and a biomedical engineer,\u201d said aerospace engineering\nstudent and Crew 101\u2019s Outreach and Health and Safety Officer Christine Redmond,\nwho added that all of her professors were as excited as she was about her\nparticipation in the Mars simulation.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWith biology major Christina Graves serving as the mission\u2019s\nchief scientist, experiments included a project that could be used to prove\nwhether microbacterial life exists on Mars, as well as a Georgia Tech flagship\nexperiment to improve radio communication. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThis crew also focused on educational outreach by partnering\nwith NASA INSPIRE, an online community of high school students. The crew\nmentored students virtually by helping them refine research proposals, holding\nlive chats and organizing interactive projects, quizzes, games and competitions.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFour crewmembers worked away from the Utah site in mission\nsupport roles throughout the duration. These members designed experiments prior\nto the crew\u2019s departure for MDRS, provided protocol for each experiment and\nsupported those at the station via email throughout the mission. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFor the six crew members living \u201con Mars\u201d for two weeks, Redmond\nsaid the easiest part of the mission was achieving positive crew dynamics.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCrew members are required to live in close quarters for an\nextended period of time and share limited resources throughout the mission,\u201d\nshe said. \u201cCrew 101 has been noted for its communication with the national Mars\nSociety\u2019s mission support. Teamwork and communication are some of Crew 101\u2019s\ngreatest strengths.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe hardest part, Redmond said, was following the Mars\nSociety\u2019s astronaut food study, which limits ingredients and cooking methods to\nthose that are used in space. Despite the challenges, the remote location and\nlimited resources were a welcomed change of pace for crewmembers. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAfter several months in the busy city of Atlanta, what\nwe\u2019ve enjoyed the most has been the isolation and scenery. Since most of us are\nmajor space enthusiasts, our favorite part has been stargazing at night,\u201d\nRedmond said. \u201cIt really looks like we\u2019re actually on Mars and, while we are in\n\u2018sim,\u2019 it can feel very realistic.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ECrew 101 \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/cyberbuzz.gatech.edu\/msgt\/mdrs\/C101.shtml\u0022\u003Ereported online daily\u003C\/a\u003E about its experiments and\nprogress, and will summarize its results in a post-mission report in the coming weeks.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETen Georgia Tech students spent their spring break as members\nof Crew 101 on a simulated mission to Mars.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2011-03-30 09:46:57","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:30","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-03-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-03-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"65228":{"id":"65228","type":"image","title":"Mars Society Crew 101","body":null,"created":"1449176801","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:06:41","changed":"1475894577","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:57","alt":"Mars Society Crew 101","file":{"fid":"193202","name":"Crew101_Patch.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Crew101_Patch.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Crew101_Patch.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":113466,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Crew101_Patch.jpg?itok=W4cvCMbV"}}},"media_ids":["65228"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.marssociety.org\/","title":"Mars Society"},{"url":"http:\/\/cyberbuzz.gatech.edu\/msgt\/mdrs\/index.shtml","title":"GT @ MDRS"},{"url":"http:\/\/cyberbuzz.gatech.edu\/msgt\/mdrs\/C101.shtml","title":"GT Crew 101"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/offices\/education\/programs\/descriptions\/INSPIRE_Project.html","title":"NASA INSPIRE"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.shaw@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Shaw\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EGeorgia Tech Communications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}