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As It Happens

What it feels like to spend a year on Mars

A team of scientists emerge from a geodesic dome on the side of a Hawaiian volcano. They called it home for a year in order to simulate life on the Red Planet. Shenya Gifford tells us what it was like living in isolation.
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Sheyna Gifford and her crewmates were encouraged to go outside, but, in order to simulate what that would be like on Mars, they had to wear simulated pressurised suits. (Carmel Johnston)
As It Happens7:38'Martian Crew' complete year-long mission

Sheyna Gifford has been living for the last year in an isolated geodesic dome on the side of a volcano — us Earthlings are calling it a "simulated Mars mission." And it's meant to show what it might be like to live on the Red Planet.

She and her fellow fake Martians emerged on Sunday. As It Happens guest host Laura Lynch reached her in Hawaii. The following is part of their conversation:

A NASA image of Mars. (NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team - STScI/AURA, J. Bell - ASU, M. Wolff - Space Science Institute via AP)

Laura Lynch: Dr. Gifford, first of all, welcome back. How is life on Earth treating you?

Sheyna Gifford: Life on Earth is wonderful. You have a lovely planet here. There's really no place like Earth. It's got great food, really wonderful people and a number of things you can do throughout the day when you're not confined to 1,200 square feet.

LL: Can you break down the experiment for us? What's the idea behind the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and
Simulation or HI-SEAS project?

SG: For anything you really want to get right, be it flying a plane, driving a car or going to space, the more you practice here on Earth, the better you're going to do when you finally get there. And, unfortunately it's very hard to practice for space. But the best you can do is to create a space-like environment and put astronauts-like people in it — which is, basically, exactly what we did.

Six scientists celebrate as they exit from their Mars simulation habitat on slopes of Mauna Loa on the Big Island, Hawaii. (University of Hawaii/AP)

LL: So paint a picture for us. You and the other crew members in this dome on the side of a volcano.
What did a typical day on Mars look like?

SG: Like a typical day on Earth without the resources. So you know you wake up and you have to get yourself going. So for me that would be 6 a.m. or so. I'd go downstairs and the first thing you have to know is can you turn the lights
on? Is there any energy to make that cup of coffee? So you have to check the energy levels. Even if you have energy now, you have to know will I have energy in a few hours? You don't want to waste the energy on a pot of coffee. You might need it, if the weather is poor. So you have to take the cover off the portal and visually check the weather. Are we all fogged or dusted in, as you would be on Mars? No. OK. So now you can go ahead and heat up that water.
Sheyna Gifford and her crewmates were locked inside a dome for a year with limited communication to their family and friends. ( Carmel Johnston)

LL: And that's because you were running purely off of solar power?

SG: We had backup systems, but we are astronaut-like. We're not going to waste energy on that cup of coffee, no matter how badly we might want it, if we don't have it. And so it's just like you waking up, except that you have the confidence that there's going to be power and water and it's just something we have to check on every day. We can't just take it for granted.

LL: Then you mentioned that you had some films beamed into you. How much access did you have
to the outside world?

SG: Very little by design. That wasn't an attempt to induce boredom or make us feel alone. That's just how space is. And it's amazing that we take the Internet for granted as being a universal phenomenon. Everywhere people go there is the Internet, but that's simply not so. The second you step off Earth, you've left that behind too. 

LL: So how did you deal with boredom then?

SG: I think the best way to answer that is by being a workaholic. None of us were bored. Boredom is a phenomenon that can only occur when you're not desperately trying to get an amazing amount of things done. And just looking at what my crew mates could accomplish is dizzying. It was kind of like being in a science farming commune. Between the work you have to do to survive — to grow the plants and make sure the energy level is working and keep the water system working, which was our personal struggle. So you've got to do that, you've got to keep the farm running. At the same time, you're scientists and you have to keep the science going.

LL: And after spending this year on this faux Mars, how likely do you think it is that that there could be a real
mission to the Red Planet in our future?

SG: It's simply a question more of how badly do we want it. How badly do we want anything? How badly do we want health care? How badly do we want good education? How badly do we want to be an interplanetary species? If we want it, we can have it any of these things — all of these things.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

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