This time it’s not make believe. One of the original crew members of the 2013 University of �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ��’s program (HI–SEAS) on Mauna Loa is headed to space, for real.

Geoscientist Sian Proctor is one of four crew members who will be aboard the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth, . The mission is proceeding toward a targeted in Florida.

Proctor was one of six crew members who emerged on August 13, 2013 after spending four months at the HI–SEAS habitat as part of a NASA-funded study to investigate food strategies for long-duration space travel.

“I am loving feeling the breeze against me,” Proctor said that day. “Even the warmth of the sun on my face. That’s nice.”

HI–SEAS Principal Investigator and UH Mānoa Professor of Information and Computer Sciences Kim Binsted said, “I’m so excited to see Sian go from being an analog astronaut at HI–SEAS to being a real one in space!”

Learn more about the HI–SEAS program

The plan is for Inspiration4 to travel in a low Earth orbit on a multi-day journey. According to the mission website, the crew will conduct experiments while traveling weightless at more than 17,000 miles per hour. Researchers will also collect environmental and biomedical data and biological samples from the four crew members, before, during and after the historic spaceflight.

The mission is raising awareness and funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

A two-week mission to perform scientific experiments and test technological instruments needed for the future exploration of the Moon or Mars was successfully completed on March 6 at the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa’s (HI-SEAS) habitat on the slopes of Mauna Loa on �鶹��ý Island.

The international crew finished all mission targets. This included geological mapping of the area for fresh pahoehoe (smooth) lava flows and lava tubes by geology students Annelotte Weert and Sebastian Mulder. The surface of the Moon and Mars is made up in great part of basaltic regolith material, similar to what the Hawaiian Islands are made of. Thus, study of the lava flows can help us understand how the weathering processes affect this kind of geology on Earth and what they would be like on other planetary bodies. Lava tubes could also be potentially used as shelters to build habitats on the Moon. The students used drone footage, IMAgery and 3D mapping to complement their research.

Nityaporn Sirikan, crew engineer and European Space Agency (ESA) systems engineer, completed work on enhancing the space suits and other technologies used at the HI-SEAS station. Her work will set a new standard for future missions at the station and feedback from the crew will allow for upgrades to be performed before another mission.

Other crew activities included a number of outreach and educational projects by crew anthropology researcher Benjamin Pothier, crew journalist Josh Burstein and crew commander Michaela Musilova.

UH Mānoa’s Musilova is also the chief investigator for HI-SEAS and the (IMA). She organized a Mission to Mars competition last year in Slovakia, which encouraged high school students in that country to design a research experiment to be performed during a simulated mission to the Moon or Mars. It involved collecting hair from the crewmembers, dissolving it and using it as fertilizer to grow plants on the Moon.

“All crew members actively participated in all mission research projects and duties. Collectively, we were able to complete the mission and all of our goals. I consider that to be a great success,” said Musilova “For me, personally, I was even more pleased by everyone’s can-do attitude and teamwork. We got along very well and together we made this mission fulfilling.”

The crew’s activities and research projects were monitored by researchers and engineers at the mission control center, based at the Blue Planet Research laboratory on �鶹��ý Island that is owned by IMA founder Henk Rogers. Bernard Foing of ESA and executive director of (ILEWG) was acting as the main space-crew communicator at the mission control center throughout the mission.

The mission is under the EuroMoonMars initiative, led by the ILEWG of ESA, in collaboration with the IMA, European Space Research and Technology Centre, Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam and HI-SEAS. It is part of a series of projects led by the IMA, which is planning on building a base on the Moon and a prototype moonbase on �鶹��ý Island.

Musilova said, “Our future plans are to continue with similar missions, in terms of their length and the types of research projects. We are already working with ESA, ILEWG and VU on preparing another two missions later this year. One of our main goals is to get students and researchers from UH and the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems engaged in our future missions. We are also working on proposals for future missions with the NASA’s Johnson Space Center, University of South Florida and companies such as SIFT and Ketone Technologies.”

Read previous HI-SEAS stories.

The six-member crew at the University of �鶹��ý at ����ԴDz�’s (HI-SEAS) habitat on the slopes of Mauna Loa on �鶹��ý Island has been hard at work with geological and drone surveys, lava tube exploration and space technology testing. They have been cooking with shelf stable ingredients and passing some of their free time playing cards.

They are also performing a research experiment designed by high school students in Slovakia who won a Mission to Mars competition last year organized by HI-SEAS and International Moonbase Alliance (IMA) chief investigator Michaela Musilova.

Musilova explained, “It is focused on being able to fertilize soils and grow things like spinach in these soils by using human hair. So it’s a very interesting experiment and the whole crew is going to be part of this.”

Musilova, who is also serving as crew commander, says the mission is off to a “very good start,” in spite of some challenges with power cycling on and off and a temporary “disconnection from Earth.”

Crew systems engineer Nityaporn Sirikan, who works for the European Space Agency (ESA), said, “Yes, when I came here there were quite some challenges in the habitat. We had to do some engineering intervention to fix the problem and now it seems everything is resolved.”

The mission is under the EuroMoonMars initiative, led by the International Lunar Exploration Working Group of ESA in collaboration with the IMA, European Space Research and Technology Centre, Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam and HI-SEAS. It is part of a series of projects led by IMA, which is planning on building a base on the Moon and a prototype moonbase on �鶹��ý Island.

“I thought it would be an amazing experience to feel how it is like to be an astronaut, not on Earth, but on the Moon or somewhere else in the universe,” said crew member Annelotte Weert, a master’s student at VU Amsterdam. “And to see how you have to live and how you can do science.”

The crew entered the habitat on February 20, 2019. The current mission is scheduled to end on Wednesday, March 6, 2019, at noon. Media interested in covering the crew exit should contact Michaela Musilova, chief investigator, HI-SEAS, musilova@moonbasealliance.com or Amy Higa at (808) 536-2729, (808) 386-6790 or ahiga@iq360inc.com.

Read previous HI-SEAS stories.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

A two-week mission to perform scientific experiments and test technological instruments needed for the future exploration of the Moon or Mars commenced on February 20 at the University of �鶹��ý at ����ԴDz�’s (HI-SEAS) habitat on the slopes of Mauna Loa on �鶹��ý Island.

The crew of six is under the command of UH ����ԴDz�’s Michaela Musilova, chief investigator for HI-SEAS and the International Moonbase Alliance.

Musilova said, “These missions are open to researchers around the world to take part in, provided their research will help contribute to the exploration and colonization of the Moon and Mars.”

The mission is under the EuroMoonMars initiative, led by the (ILEWG) of the European Space Agency (ESA), in collaboration with the International Moonbase Alliance (IMA), European Space Research and Technology Centre, Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam and HI-SEAS. It is part of a series of projects led by IMA, which is planning on building a moonbase on the Moon and a prototype moonbase on �鶹��ý Island.

Other crew members are:

• Annelotte Weert—Dutch geologist, master’s student at VU Amsterdam/ILEWG
• —French explorer/anthropology researcher, Plymouth University, Explorers Club member and journalist
• Josh Burstein—American journalist, host of
• Nityaporn Sirikan—Thai/British/Italian systems engineer at ESA/ILEWG
• Sebastian Mulder—Dutch geochemist, master’s student at VU Amsterdam/ILEWG

The crew’s research includes geological and drone surveys, lava tube exploration and space technology testing. They will be doing outreach and education, including performing a research experiment designed by high school students in Slovakia who won a Mission to Mars competition last year organized by Musilova. The mission control centre for these missions is based at the Blue Planet Research laboratory on the Big Island, which is owned by the IMA founder Henk Rogers. Bernard Foing of ESA and executive director of ILEWG will be acting as the space-crew communicator at the mission control centre.

“These missions can be of much shorter duration than the previous missions that took place at HI-SEAS,” Musilova said. “We also have a different application procedure, which should allow for more diverse people to take part in them. Our hope is to get more UH researchers and students involved in future missions.”

Interested crew member applicants or for scientific project proposals for future missions, contact Musilova at musilova@moonbasealliance.com.

The current mission is scheduled to end on March 6, 2019 at noon. Media interested in covering the crew exit should contact Michaela Musilova, chief investigator, HI-SEAS, musilova@moonbasealliance.com or Amy Higa at (808) 536-2729, (808) 386-6790 or ahiga@iq360inc.com.

has approved a restart of a $1-million grant to the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa’s (HI-SEAS) project. The research program funded by NASA has operated five long-duration planetary surface missions on the Mars-like flank of Mauna Loa to investigate crew composition and cohesion, since 2012.

HI-SEAS Mission VI was cancelled February 26, after one of the four crew members withdrew. A few days earlier, an accident involving a crew member triggered an institutional review by UH and NASA, which has since been completed, and the project has been approved to go forward.

The NASA Human Research Roadmap has a tight timeline to enable human exploration of the solar system. So, rather than conduct a new Mission VII, NASA asked the HI-SEAS team to rescope the final phase of the project to cover data mining over the six-year life of the project, and the development of a comprehensive database. NASA is providing additional funds for a more robust version of the data analysis than had already been planned for the end of the six HI-SEAS missions.

Principal Investigator and UH Mānoa Professor Kim Binsted said, “We’re excited to be able to put the 36 months’ worth of mission data we’ve collected over the past five years to good use: advancing human space exploration.”

Under the new grant, HI-SEAS will:

1. Perform data mining of all HI-SEAS data (Missions I–V) related to team composition, including investigation of individual personalities, cognitive function and behavioral health changes, as all of these influence team performance.
2. Develop a database of all HI-SEAS data funded by NASA to include data from HI-SEAS collaborators.

HI-SEAS investigators expect to complete the data collection and analysis by the end of 2019.

(Editor’s note, September 13—This Science Friday episode will air on on Friday, September 21, 1–3 p.m. The full show will be available after the broadcast, archived on the or the HPR mobile app.)

Women in STEM take center stage as three scientists will appear on the award-winning National Public Radio show, Science Friday, at 7:30 p.m. on July 6 at the �鶹��ý Theatre Center.

The event, one of two being presented locally by �鶹��ý Public Radio, will feature host Ira Flatow and participants:

• , a professor of in the , who serves as principal investigator for UH ����ԴDz�’�� (�鶹��ý Space Exploration Analog and Simulation), a Mars simulation mission based at Mauna Loa on �鶹��ý Island. (Read more about HI-SEAS project.)
• , an ecologist in the ‘ , who spearheaded the recent collaboration and multi-disciplinary education project, . (Read more about project.)
• , an associate specialist at the in UH Manoa’s , who has devised a .

The UH Mānoa scientists will discuss their disciplines and current projects.

The interview and question-and-answer session will be taped for possible future national broadcast on Science Friday.

This is Flatow’s first live appearance in the state. Reserved seats are available from the �鶹��ý Theatre .

All ages are invited to celebrate science at AstroDay 2018 Saturday, May 5 at Hilo’s Prince Kuhio Plaza.

More than 30 science and community organizations from around the state including the , , and more will fascinate participants of all ages. Free, fun, educational activities and programs will be ongoing throughout the day. Exciting science demonstrations, entertainment and awards will be at the mid-mall stage, with live broadcasts by KWXX Radio.

Highlights include Starlab–a portable planetarium provided by Gemini Observatory, solar viewing by experienced science guides, robotics clubs, educational games and toys and many hands-on activities. Colorful and informative material will be available, as well as displays from diverse organizations.

AstroDay sponsors the , a graphic design competition open to all �鶹��ý Island students grades K–12. The purpose of the contest is to promote awareness of the relationships between the science of modern astronomy and Hawaiian culture. One overall winner and several category winners are awarded. The 2018 coin contest winners will be announced at the opening ceremony of the AstroDay program, beginning at 10 a.m. The overall winning artwork becomes the the official design of the AstroDay collector coins, T-shirts and posters for the following year.

AstroDay is an annual event sponsored by the Maunakea Astronomy Outreach Committee, a partnership of scientists, administrators and educators in astronomy throughout the state of �鶹��ý. The committee’s mission is to coordinate and organize the collective outreach efforts of the astronomy community.

For information on the event, go to the or the .

Researchers from the are seeking crewmembers for a -funded long-duration space exploration analog study (start date to be determined).

These types of studies are essential for NASA to understand how teams of astronauts will perform during long-duration space exploration missions, such as those that will be required for human travel to Mars. The studies will also allow researchers to recommend strategies for crew composition for such missions, and to determine how best to support such crews while they are working in space.

The upcoming missions will be conducted at the (HI-SEAS) site, an isolated Mars-like environment on the slopes of Mauna Loa on �鶹��ý Island at approximately 8,200 feet above sea level. Crewmember participants will live in the same modern geodesic dome habitat that successfully supported five long-duration NASA-funded studies including a year-long study of team cohesion that garnered .

HI-SEAS Mission VI was cancelled February 26, after one of the four crew members withdrew. Institutional Review Board (IRB) investigations into an accident that happened earlier at the habitat are ongoing.

Principal Investigator Kim Binsted said, “The IRB’s gave us permission to reopen recruitment right away, just not to go ahead with the next mission. Because recruitment takes several months, we thought it best to start that process now, even though we don’t yet have a firm start date for the next mission.”

Requirements

Applicants must be between 21 and 65 years of age. They must be tobacco-free, able to pass a class-2 flight physical examination, and able to understand, speak and write fluently in English. They must meet the basic requirements of the NASA astronaut program (i.e., an undergraduate degree in a science or engineering discipline, three years of experience or graduate study, etc.); in addition, they will be evaluated for experience considered valuable in the program, such as experience in complex operational environments.

• How to Apply: . Instructions for applicants are posted at the HI-SEAS website.
• More about the HI-SEAS project

For more information visit the .

Read more UH News stories about HI-SEAS missions.

(Editor’s note, February 26—HI-SEASS Mission VI has been cancelled as a crew member has voluntarily withdrawn their participation in the study. Regrettably, it is not possible to perform a mission with a crew of three. Further, an investigation is ongoing into an incident which occurred on February 19, 2018, temporarily suspending the mission. After a full safety inspection of the habitat has been performed, a new call for applicants will be released to compose a new crew for another mission based on a review by the institutional review board.)

(Editor’s note, February 19—A crew member of the HI-SEAS Mission VI was admitted to the Hilo Medical Center for required medical attention and was under observation for a few hours before being released.)

Under Institutional Research Board regulations, no further medical information can be provided without the crew member’s permission. Crew safety is the top priority and, in line with safety protocols, the mission has been postponed and the crew has left the dome, according to HI-SEAS Principal Investigator Kim Binsted. The mission will remain suspended until an inspection of the dome and investigation are completed.)

On the afternoon on February 15, 2018, as a light drizzle fell, four astronaut-like crewmembers entered the geodesic dome at the 8,200 foot level of Mars-like Mauna Loa, their home on �鶹��ý Island for the next eight months.

They are participants in the ’s (HI-SEAS) Mission VI. The isolated HI-SEAS habitat is approximately 13,000 cubic feet and has sleeping quarters for six, a kitchen, laboratory, bathroom and simulated airlock.

The habitat shelters the most international crew in the project’s history, hailing from Australia, Korea, Scotland and Slovakia. It is also the first four-member crew.

• Related UH News: HI-SEAS Mission VI is the most international crew in study history, February 12, 2018

Science Officer Michaela Musilova said, “I think in the first few weeks and months we’ll have to get used to the fact that it’s just going to be the four of us here with all the restricted conditions we’ll be living in—whether food, the lack of proper communication with Earth and having to deal with all various problems that are going to occur just by ourselves.”

The simulation includes a communications delay each way of 20 minutes and the use of only shelf-stable ingredients in food preparation.

“My personal challenge will be the (shelf-stable) food because I like to eat good food, fresh food, but I’ll try to be creative to make something that can be enjoyable for all of our crew members,” said Crew Commander Sukjin Han.

The eight-month research study of human behavior and performance aims to help determine the individual and team requirements for long-duration space missions.

Principal Investigator and UH Mānoa Professor Kim Binsted said, “If we are going to go to Mars or other destinations in the solar system, we have to make sure that we are prepared—that we have the right people and the right equipment and we put them together in a way that’s going to get people there and back again safely.”

A recent addition to the habitat—a piano-like keyboard—may help to break the monotony. Chief Engineer Calum Hervieu has been known to tickle the ivories.

Hervieu, who hails from Scotland, said he is excited to be there: “It’s a chance to do science in a completely different way. It’s a chance to experience analogs and bring that back to Europe as well, where I’m from.”

Although the four-person crew will be dividing up tasks that were previously accomplished by six-person crews, they have ambitious plans for the months ahead.

Said Communications Specialist Lisa Stojanovski, “I think what I’m really excited about for this mission is the ability to bring everyone else along for the journey with us. So I’m hoping to do lots of education and outreach and get community involved about this mission and why space exploration and Mars exploration is so important.”

Read more UH News stories about HI-SEAS missions.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

Now in its sixth year, the (HI-SEAS) is set to begin its next mission with the most international crew in the history of the research project.

The four astronaut-like Mission VI crewmembers hail from Australia, Korea, Scotland and Slovakia. At approximately 5 p.m. �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� Standard Time on Thursday, February 15, they will enter a geodesic dome habitat atop Mauna Loa on the island of �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� as part of an eight-month research study of human behavior and performance. The NASA-funded project aims to help determine the individual and team requirements for long-duration space exploration missions, including travel to Mars.

• Sukjin Han is an assistant professor in economics at University of Texas at Austin.
• Calum Hervieu is astrophysicist and systems engineer from rural Scotland.
• Lisa Stojanovski is a professional science communicator who manages the Australian chapter of the Space Generation Advisory Council.
• Michaela Musilova is an astrobiologist and the chair of the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities

Read more about the HI-SEAS Mission VI crew

The crew started nine days of briefings and training on Wednesday, February 7, joined by scientific researchers and mission support to prepare for HI-SEAS Mission VI.

HI-SEAS Principal Investigator and UH Mānoa Professor, Kim Binsted is excited about the international diversity of Mission VI and the role HI-SEAS plays in understanding human behavior and performance in space.

“This is the first time we’ve selected a crew that includes members from four different countries of origin. As HI-SEAS is an international collaboration between researchers, mission support and crew, it is great to see this diversity reflected in the Mission VI crew,” said Binsted.“For humans to successfully undertake a long-duration spaceflight to Mars, it will require a global collaboration, and so it seems appropriate that our Mission VI begins with this spirit of internationalism.”

During the eight-month mission the crew will perform exploration tasks such as geological fieldwork and life systems management. The mission is conducted under isolated and confined conditions designed to be similar to those of a planetary surface exploration mission. For example, all communications are delayed by 20 minutes in each direction to simulate the time it takes a message to travel between Earth and Mars. Daily routines include food preparation from only shelf-stable ingredients, exercise, research and field work aligned with NASA’s planetary exploration expectations.

Under the watchful eye of the research team and supported by experienced mission control, the crew will participate in multiple primary and opportunistic research studies. The primary research is conducted by scientists from across the United States who are at the forefront of their fields.

The primary behavioral research includes a shared social behavioral task for team building, continuous monitoring of face-to-face interactions with sociometric badges, a virtual reality team-based collaborative exercise to predict individual and team behavioral health and performance and multiple stress and cognitive countermeasure and monitoring studies.

HI-SEAS Mission VI continues a series of successful 8-month and 12-month missions that place HI-SEAS in the company of a small group of analogs capable of operating very long duration missions in isolated and confined environments such as Mars500, Concordia and the International Space Station.

Meet the HI-SEAS Mission VI crew

Sukjin Han is an assistant professor in economics at University of Texas at Austin, specializing in econometrics. His research focuses mainly on developing statistical methods to evaluate causal effects of treatments or interventions, such as medical interventions, social programs or economic policies. He is particularly interested in settings where treatments are endogenously determined by agents in the system, due to the optimization and interaction of the agents.

Michaela Musilova is an astrobiologist with experience working at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; University of London Observatory; on European Space Agency’s and UK Space Agency’s projects; leading numerous expeditions to extreme environments and being an analogue astronaut and commander at the Mars Desert Research Station. Musilova is currently the chair of the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities, a visiting professor at the Slovak University of Technology and a lecturer for the International Space University.

Calum Hervieu is an astrophysicist and systems engineer, who grew up in rural Scotland. Prior to joining HI-SEAS Mission VI, Hervieu was part of the Spaceship EAC initiative at European Space Agency’s European Astronaut Centre, Germany, where he was working to develop goals and best practices for future human and robotic missions to the lunar surface.

Lisa Stojanovski is a professional science communicator who is passionate about making humanity a spacefaring civilization. In 2017, Stojanovski toured remote and regional Australia with the Shell Questacon Science Circus to earn a master of science communication outreach. Stojanovski creates content for the live web show TMRO, while managing the Australian chapter of the Space Generation Advisory Council.

HI-SEAS Mission VI follows the successful eight-month Mission V that was completed in September 2017.