As Close to Mars as a Human Can Get

Kavya Manyapu SM '10 wants to go to Mars. But until that's possible, she's content eating, sleeping, and breathing the Red Planet. The Boeing engineer recently spent two weeks at the Analogue Mars Habitat, a two-story cylindrical building in southern Utah that serves as one of four Mars base-like habitats built by the Mars Society.

The structure, 26 feet in diameter, includes multiple beds, a shower (which each crew member uses once every three or four days), toilet, science lab, kitchen, and work areas.

A roundtrip mission to Mars would take at least two years, so research at the desert station seeks solutions to some of the challenges of extended space travel—maintaining an adequate food supply is one. A study is currently underway to grow nutrient-rich bacteria using recycled water, such as urine.

Read more about Manyapu and watch the video of her experience.