{"675712":{"#nid":"675712","#data":{"type":"news","title":"A Yellow Jacket on Mars ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen the door to the Mars Dune Alpha habitat at NASA\u0027s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, closed behind the crew members of the first Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) mission, Georgia Tech graduate Ross Brockwell was transported 152 million simulated miles to the Red Planet.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor the next 378 days, Brockwell, a 1999 civil engineering graduate, and three other crew members participated in the study designed to gain insights into the challenges of deep space exploration and its effects on human health and performance. The crew performed robotic operations, habitat maintenance, agricultural activities, and simulated surface walks in the \u0022sandbox\u0022 with the assistance of virtual reality while enduring intentional resource limitations, isolation, and confinement.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/beds1.jpg\u0022 data-align=\u0022center\u0022 data-entity-uuid=\u0022d382a175-cdb9-4af6-bd3e-e50a6cbacb2e\u0022 data-entity-type=\u0022file\u0022 alt=\u0022Mars habitat\u0022 width=\u00221280\u0022 height=\u0022856\u0022 data-caption=\u0022Mars habitat\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA structural engineer by day, he has always dreamed of space travel, and when a fellow Yellow Jacket alerted Brockwell to the application for the CHAPEA mission, he seized the opportunity.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Sometimes, you get chances in your lifetime, and if I don\u0027t get a chance to actually go to Mars, if I can take this chance to help us get there as a planet, I\u0027m honored,\u0022 he said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOnce inside the 1,700-square-foot habitat, Brockwell\u0027s role as the CHAPEA mission\u0027s flight engineer focused on infrastructure, building design, and organizational leadership. As much as he learned from his tasks throughout the mission, like anticipating possible failure points and contingency planning, NASA learned even more through physical and cognitive monitoring. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022There was a lot of science, but some of the science was focused on us as the participants \u2014 our physiology and our performance \u2014 to make the mission as realistic as possible,\u0022 he said.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECommunication is a key element in space travel. Getting a message from Mars back to family and friends or mission control on Earth took 20 minutes on average for the crew inside the habitat, testing their ability to isolate. Without constant communication with the outside world, the crew fostered camaraderie through team activities and celebrated birthdays and holidays together. Brockwell\u0027s ingenuity wasn\u0027t limited to official tasks; he used a 3D printer to create a bracket for mounting a mini-basketball hoop. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeals inside the habitat mirrored the shelf-stable food system of the International Space Station. While cultivated crops like tomatoes supplemented their main supply, Brockwell says there is a common misconception about astronaut food. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I say with all sincerity, it was delicious.\u0022 His favorite dish was a peanut chicken and wild rice mix, but the crew often got creative by mixing soups and proteins to create new dishes.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther than the food, the biggest surprise to Brockwell was how quickly the mission was completed.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I hoped and thought it would be that way, but we proved that a well-comprised crew can have a good time while doing this. There were a lot of clich\u00e9d expectations that there would be issues that we just didn\u0027t have. I think we demonstrated that a mission like this can be a huge success and an enjoyable, positive experience, not just something to be endured,\u0022 he said. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBrockwell says that his time at Georgia Tech allowed him to learn the fundamentals of engineering principles and taught him to keep an open mind when exploring how things work. After receiving a master\u0027s degree in aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology and completing the CHAPEA mission, he believes systems engineering can aid deep space exploration efforts for the next generation. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Thinking about the effect of every component on every other component and the emergent properties from complex systems is crucial. I think that systems thinking is going to become increasingly important. Ecology and ecological thinking need to be part of it, especially for aerospace. If you\u0027re thinking about deep space exploration, an understanding of ecological principles and closed-loop systems will be key,\u0022 he said.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the end of the mission, Brockwell savored the sights and smells of Earth for the first time in over a year, saying that\u0027s what he missed the most. But if the opportunity arose to take the 152-million-mile flight to Mars, he\u0027d be on the first ship out. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"full_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"A Georgia Tech alum has emerged after living in a simulated Mars habitat at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for the past year. "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA Georgia Tech alum has emerged after living in a simulated Mars habitat at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for the past year.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A Georgia Tech alum has emerged after living in a simulated Mars habitat at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for the past year. "}],"uid":"36418","created_gmt":"2024-07-31 21:03:35","changed_gmt":"2024-08-01 13:37:39","author":"sgagliano3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-07-31T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-07-31T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674462":{"id":"674462","type":"image","title":"Ross Brockwell exiting the Mars Dune Alpha habitat at NASA\u0027s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.","body":"\u003Cp\u003ERoss Brockwell exiting the Mars Dune Alpha habitat at NASA\u0027s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Photo credit: NASA\/CHAPEA\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1722460075","gmt_created":"2024-07-31 21:07:55","changed":"1722460075","gmt_changed":"2024-07-31 21:07:55","alt":"Ross Brockwell exiting the Mars Dune Alpha habitat at NASA\u0027s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.","file":{"fid":"257984","name":"jsc2024e044182.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/07\/31\/jsc2024e044182.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/07\/31\/jsc2024e044182.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4829251,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/07\/31\/jsc2024e044182.jpg?itok=CoEByvXI"}}},"media_ids":["674462"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1325","name":"aerospace"},{"id":"169176","name":"life on mars"},{"id":"167098","name":"space exploration"},{"id":"2479","name":"deep space mission"},{"id":"408","name":"NASA"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193657","name":"Space Research Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:Steven.gagliano@gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESteven Gagliano\u003C\/a\u003E - Institute Communications\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Steven.gagliano@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}