Analog - Blog Posts

Exploring an Asteroid Without Leaving Earth

This 45 day mission – which began May 5, 2018 and ends today, June 18 – will help our researchers learn how isolation and close quarters affect individual and group behavior. This study at our Johnson Space Center prepares us for long duration space missions, like a trip to an asteroid or even to Mars.

The Human Research Exploration Analog (HERA) that the crew members will be living in is one compact, science-making house. But unlike in a normal house, these inhabitants won’t go outside for 45 days. Their communication with the rest of planet Earth will also be very limited, and they won’t have any access to internet. So no checking social media, kids!

The only people they will talk with regularly are mission control and each other.

The HERA XVII crew is made up of 2 men and 2 women, selected from the Johnson Space Center Test Subject Screening (TSS) pool. The crew member selection process is based on a number of criteria, including criteria similar to what is used for astronaut selection. The four would-be astronauts are:

William Daniels

Chiemi Heil

Eleanor Morgan

Michael Pecaut

What will they be doing?

The crew are going on a simulated journey to an asteroid, a 715-day journey that we compress into 45 days. They will fly their simulated exploration vehicle around the asteroid once they arrive, conducting several site surveys before 2 of the crew members will participate in a series of virtual reality spacewalks.

They will also be participating in a suite of research investigations and will also engage in a wide range of operational and science activities, such as growing and analyzing plants and brine shrimp, maintaining and “operating” an important life support system, exercising on a stationary bicycle or using free weights, and sharpening their skills with a robotic arm simulation.

During the whole mission, they will consume food produced by the Johnson Space Center Food Lab – the same food that the astronauts enjoy on the International Space Station – which means that it needs to be rehydrated or warmed in a warming oven.

This simulation means that even when communicating with mission control, there will be a delay on all communications ranging from 1 to 5 minutes each way.

A few other details:

The crew follows a timeline that is similar to one used for the space station crew.

They work 16 hours a day, Monday through Friday. This includes time for daily planning, conferences, meals and exercise.

Mission: May 5 - June 18, 2018

But beware! While we do all we can to avoid crises during missions, crews need to be able to respond in the event of an emergency. The HERA crew will conduct a couple of emergency scenario simulations, including one that will require them to respond to a decrease in cabin pressure, potentially finding and repairing a leak in their spacecraft.

Throughout the mission, researchers will gather information about living in confinement, teamwork, team cohesion, mood, performance and overall well-being. The crew members will be tracked by numerous devices that each capture different types of data.

Learn more about the HERA mission HERE.

Explore the HERA habitat via 360-degree videos HERE.

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Exploration in Extreme Environments: Under Water and in Outer Space

Living in the depths of the sea…to prepare for travel in deep space. 

Sounds strange, but that’s what our NEEMO expedition aims to do.

This 10-day NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 22 expedition is slated to begin on June 18. NEEMO 22 will focus on both exploration spacewalks (or in this case waterwalks?) and objectives related to the International Space Station and deep space missions.

Analog (noun): is a situation on Earth that produces effects on the body similar to those experienced in space, both physical and mental/emotional. These studies help us prepare for long duration missions.

As an analog for future planetary science concepts and strategies, marine science also will be performed under the guidance of Florida International University’s marine science department.

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren will command the NEEMO 22 mission aboard the Aquarius laboratory, 62 feet below the ocean surface near Key Largo Florida. Lindgren was part of the space station Expeditions 44 and 45 in 2015, where he spent 141 days living and working in the extreme environment of space. He also conducted two spacewalks.

Fun Fact: These underwater explorers are referred to as “aquanauts”

Lindgren will be joined by ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Pedro Duque, Trevor Graff, a Jacobs Engineering employee working as a planetary scientist at our Johnson Space Center; and research scientists Dom D’Agostino from the University of South Florida and the Florida Institute of Human and Machine Cognition.

While living underwater for 10 days, the crew will:

Test spaceflight countermeasure equipment

Validate technology for precisely tracking equipment in a habitat

Complete studies of body composition and sleep

Assess hardware sponsored by ESA that will help crew members evacuate someone who has been injured on a lunar spacewalk

Why do we use Analog Missions?

Analog missions prepare us for near-future exploration to asteroids, Mars and the moon. Analogs play a significant role in problem solving for spaceflight research.

Not all experiments can be done in space – there is not enough time, money, equipment and manpower

Countermeasures can be tested in analogs before trying them in space. Those that do not work in analogs will not be flown in space

Ground-based analog studies are completed more quickly and less expensively

For more information about the NEEMO mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/NEEMO/index.html

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Exploring an Asteroid Without Leaving Earth

You may remember that back in February, four crew members lived and worked inside our Human Research Exploration Analog (HERA). That crew, made up of 4 women, simulated a 715-day journey to a Near-Earth asteroid. Then in May, a second crew of 4 – this time, 4 men, launched on their simulated journey to that same asteroid.  These 30 day missions help our researchers learn how isolation and close quarters affect individual and group behavior. Studies like this at our Johnson Space Center prepare us for long duration space missions, like a trip to an asteroid or even to Mars. We now have a third crew, living and working inside the HERA. This is the spacecraft’s 11th crew. The mission began on June 11, and will end on August 10.

The crew members are currently living inside this compact, science-making house. But unlike in a normal house, these inhabitants won’t go outside for 30 days. Their communication with the rest of planet Earth will also be very limited, and they won’t have any access to internet. The only people they will talk with regularly are mission control and each other.

The HERA XI crew is made up of 3 men and 1 woman selected from the Johnson Space Center Test Subject Screening (TSS) pool. The crew member selection process is based on a number of criteria, including the same criteria for astronaut selection. The four would-be astronauts are:

• Tess Caswell

• Kyle Foster

• Daniel Surber

• Emmanuel Urquieta

What will they be doing?

The crew will test hardware prototypes to get “the bugs worked out” before they are used in off-Earth missions. They will conduct experiments involving plants, brine shrimp, and creating a piece of equipment with a 3D printer. After their visit to an asteroid, the crew will simulate the processing of soil and rocks they collected virtually. Researchers outside of the spacecraft will collect data regarding team dynamics, conflict resolution and the effects of extended isolation and confinement.

How real is a HERA mission?

When we set up an analog research investigation, we try to mimic as many of the spaceflight conditions as we can. This simulation means that even when communicating with mission control, there will be a delay on all communications ranging from 1 to 5 minutes each way, depending on how far their simulated spacecraft is from Earth.

Obviously we are not in microgravity, so none of the effects of microgravity on the human or the vehicle can be tested. You can simulate isolation to a great degree – although the crew knows they are note really isolated from humanity, the communications delays and ban from social media help them to suspend reality. We emulate confinement and the stress that goes along with it.

Scientists and researchers use analogs like HERA to gather more data for comparison to data collected aboard the space station and from other analogs so they can draw conclusions needed for a real mission to deep space, and one day for a journey to Mars.            

A few other details:

The crew follows a timeline that is similar to one used for the     ISS crew.

They work 16 hours a day, Monday through Friday. This     includes time for daily planning, conferences, meals and exercises.  

They will be growing and taking care of plants and     brine shrimp, which they will analyze and document.

Past HERA crew members wore a sensor that recorded heart rate, distance, motion and sound intensity. When crew members were working together, the sensor would also record their proximity as well, helping investigators learn about team cohesion.

Researchers also learned about how crew members react to stress by recording and analyzing verbal interactions and by analyzing “markers” in blood and saliva samples.

As with the 2 earlier missions this year, this mission will include 22 individual investigations across key human research elements. From psychological to physiological experiments, the crew members will help prepare us for future missions.

Want a full, 360 degree look at HERA? Check out and explore the inside of the habitat.

For more information on our Human Research Program, visit: www.nasa.gov/hrp.

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