SENSORIA M3 crew members (from a previous HI-SEAS mission) suit up to go on a moonwalk outside the habitat. Photo by Gianna McLaren, courtesy of HI-SEAS.
By Pat Stinson
Brooke Edwards will spend her 30th birthday far from home, doing all the things expected of an astronaut on a mission to the Moon.
Born March 6, the Manistee resident shares her birthday with Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.
Unlike Tereshkova, Edwards will not be on a solo space mission. And she will spend more than the Russian cosmonaut’s 72 hours away from friends and family.
Instead, this NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador will participate in a simulated space mission taking place at a research station in Hawai’i, thousands of miles from home and some 8,200 feet above sea level.
Edwards’ two-week-long “lunar mission” is one of two missions continuously offered by HI-SEAS, Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation.
The HI-SEAS program simulates missions to Mars and the Moon. It is funded by NASA and is a research program of the University of Hawai’i at Manoa currently run by the International MoonBase Alliance.
Edwards said she first heard of the program through acquaintances in the space field who posted about it on social media. Excited for the chance to experience what astronauts do, she said she had her own mission in mind when she applied.
“My main purpose is to use what I learn for outreach, to share what astronauts will be doing when they go to Mars and the Moon,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the experience.
“I never thought of going to the Moon,” she continued. “Just to experience what the Artemis (upcoming lunar mission) astronauts will, that’s exciting.”
To be considered for the simulated mission, Edwards completed an application and was asked to submit an essay. Applicants must meet basic requirements of the NASA astronaut program. Those include having an undergraduate degree in science or engineering, three years’ experience in the field or commensurate graduate study, and other prerequisites.
Edwards said that, 72 hours prior to their missions, those chosen must also test negative for COVID-19. She added that the 14-day mission satisfies the quarantine requirement.
Edwards was selected as the lunar mission’s Science Communications Officer, one of six mission participants the program describes as “analog astronauts.” According to Edwards, the ages of past participants have included those in their 20s or older, and most work in space-related fields or are in school.
Some of the simulated mission takes place inside an approximately 1,200-square-foot, solar-powered dome called the habitat, located at the top of a real-life volcano, Mauna Loa. Inside the dome are six closet-sized sleeping rooms, a kitchen, dining room, laboratory, work area, bathroom, two portholes for windows, and a simulated airlock.
Outside the dome, participants conduct geological field work, such as learning how to collect specimens in the harsh volcanic environment.
“There’s (almost) no plant life,” Edwards explained. “It’s all rock … and freezing cold.”
She added that team members cannot leave the habitat without wearing their spacesuits and must go through the steps to pressurize and depressurize, as if they were using an actual airlock.
“If you don’t, it’s like, ‘You’re dead. Simulation over,’” she said.
The program helps NASA study the psychological effects of extended isolation and close confinement on groups of individuals working in extreme conditions (known as ICE). The goal is to assemble “highly effective” teams for what the MoonBase Alliance website describes as “self-directing, long-duration exploration missions.”
The actual teams are comprised of career astronauts and mission specialists.
“These are people who have been training together for years,” Edwards said, “but are they going to be ready to live together in small spaces?”
That’s what multiple research groups determine, by studying data collected from simulated missions of analog astronauts. (One research group is from Michigan State University.)
Participants in the HI-SEAS program learn an astronaut’s routine, including new eating, sleeping and exercise habits. They are taught how to use a simulated airlock, wear a (simulated) spacesuit, conserve water and resources, work on habitat systems, conduct experiments and field work, and more.
Edwards said there is structured time and free time, and her life for two weeks will be unlike what she’s previously known.
She described her sleeping arrangements.
“I will have a little mattress with a sleeping bag on top, in a little bedroom.”
Freeze-dried food will dominate the menu. (“You have to boil the water and rehydrate it,” she said.)
A composting toilet will efficiently dispose of human waste and, for the most part, showers will not be available to them.
“Maybe we’ll get to take two showers, if we’re lucky,” she said, emphasizing that, as a team, they are allotted only a certain amount of water and when it’s used up, it’s gone.
“Water is heavy and there’s only so much they can carry into space,” she said. “The more weight, the more fuel is needed.”
For that reason, participants are restricted to bringing one backpack and a carry-on. Uniforms are not issued, so Edwards and the others must bring their own clothes.
“I’ll probably wear leggings or sweatpants and a sweatshirt,” she said.
Each analog astronaut must exercise 30 minutes a day on a “personal exerciser” or other gym equipment. Exercises are designed to keep muscles from atrophying in space.
Her duties as Science Communications Officer include observing what the other analog astronauts are doing, how their experiments are going, and recording her observations. She will be documenting her experiences as well. What she records and any photographs she takes will be turned over to someone else to post on social media.
Along the way, she said she will be learning geology and astrobiology.
“Our mission commander (Michaela Musilova, HI-SEAS director) is an astrobiologist,” Edwards said, with obvious excitement.
Lava tubes are present near the habitat, and Edwards said she is looking forward to the opportunity to explore them with a blacklight, to search for extremophile life.
“That’s life that exists in extreme temperatures, like you would find on Mars or the Moon,” she said.
One less appealing part of the mission is the restricted contact with the outside world. Analog astronauts can only communicate once a day with their families and there is a 20-minute delay (10 minutes or so each way), just as there would be when Earth and Mars are furthest apart. No mobile phones are allowed.
“You can’t mentally prepare to be away from loved ones,” she said, adding that her fiancé Tommy is “completely supportive.”
Despite the separation, Edwards is looking forward to her upcoming mission.
“My main goal is I want to make a contribution to future (space) exploration,” she said.
Look for her story in our April 7 issue, when she will share her first-person experience as an analog astronaut.
Read Edwards’ Freshwater Reporter article about 2021 space exploration initiatives and the much-anticipated Feb. 18 landing of Perseverance, the newest Mars rover, here:
https://freshwater-reporter.com/long-awaited-milestones-in-space
For more about the HI-SEAS missions and to watch the daily activities of analog astronauts, follow them on Facebook @hiseas.org.
Follow Brooke Edwards’ group page on Facebook to stay up-to-date about upcoming NASA missions, local stargazing parties and more: @Brooke Edwards-Solar System Ambassador
