This article would be most useful as a source for a student research project on __________.
A.The steps being taken toward future Mars travel
B.The typical costs of interplanetary travel
C.The challenges facing today's astronauts
D.The history of simulated missions to various destinations
D. The history of simulated missions to various destinations
no
A. The steps being taken toward future Mars travel
Which statement from the article best supports the idea that many people are excited about the idea of Mars travel?
A.In the summer of 2014, a crew of six scientists spent four months atop a volcano in Hawaii.
B.The training is not meant to create future space travelers.
C.To date, more than 900 people have participated in the mock missions in Utah.
D.On the outside, the living quarters resemble a giant water tank.
C. To date, more than 900 people have participated in the mock missions in Utah.
Getting Ready To Live on Mars
News: Space
HANKSVILLE, Utah (Achieve3000, July 6, 2015). Four people wearing space helmets and square backpacks emerge from a circular structure and step onto a reddish, barren landscape. One hikes up a hill to take magnetic readings of the ground with a rectangular apparatus that looks like a large leveling tool. Another pushes a wheelbarrow equipped with sensors in a zig-zag pattern. There are two more people who stay inside, in case something goes wrong. For this group of six college students, it's just another simulated day on Mars.
The corner of Utah where Romain Compere and his five fellow Belgian classmates are modeling an extended stay on Mars bears a strong resemblance to the Red Planet. As a result, it's become a hot spot for scientists and engineers to set up imaginary outposts on Earth's neighbor. The site and others like it allow crews to mimic interplanetary missions. They're helping to raise excitement about traveling to Mars. With advancements in science and engineering, some space enthusiasts are becoming more convinced that the approximately 140-million-mile (225-million-kilometer) trip is a realistic possibility by the year 2100.
The Belgian group is the 153rd since 2001 to travel to this rocky Utah outpost known as the Mars Desert Research Station for a two-week mission. Compere and his classmates competed with 34 other students at their university to be chosen by the nonprofit Mars Society for the crew. Mars Society is an advocacy group that believes getting people to Mars is today's greatest challenge. Participation in the April 2015 mission cost each student $1,000. But student-commander Bastien Mathurin said that the students received a grant from NASA. They also got donations from their university and several Belgian science companies.
Each person in this simulated space mission fills a role that the Mars Society believes will be essential to a real mission. Besides the commander, there is a sub-commander, astronomer, geologist, biologist, journalist, and engineer/mechanic. The participants all live and sleep in "the habitat," a building that looks like a space station. On the outside, the living quarters resemble a giant water tank. Inside, it has two levels, with six narrow bedrooms upstairs. There is a bathroom, shower, and work station downstairs. It's basic, but for two weeks everybody gets along fine, Mathurin said.
What is the most important rule of the mission? Simulate everything as authentically as possible. The students never go outside without space helmets. At least one person must always stay behind in case something goes wrong. No one goes outside alone. The team members cook with freeze-dried foods or other dry goods. They planted the Belgian flag in the ground outside the station. Group members do everything as if they were really on Mars.
Still, none of the six Belgian students is interested in actually going to Mars without a guarantee of a safe return.
"I could die for science, but at 70 years old…not at 30," said Compere, now 23.
Robert Zubrin is not surprised. He's the director of the Mars Society. The training is not meant to create future space travelers. It's set up to help illustrate the issues that people on an actual Mars mission would confront, Zubrin said.
"We're trying to write the book of field tactics for Mars explorers," Zubrin said. "We do not expect that the people in our crews will be the actual people [who] go to Mars…. We're trying to discover how the Mars mission crew should be trained."
Since 2001, the Mars Society has spent about $1 million on the desert research center. This money has been used to build the habitat, rent the land, and pay for supplies. The group is not part of NASA. But it has been helped by $150,000 in contributions from the space agency. The Mars Society also relies on donations and dues from its 7,000 members worldwide.
To date, more than 900 people have participated in the mock missions in Utah. People come from all over the world, including Russia, Romania, Australia, and Japan.
The Utah training site isn't the only place to simulate Mars missions. In the summer of 2014, a crew of six scientists spent four months atop a volcano in Hawaii. Several years ago, six researchers spent 520 days in a locked steel capsule in Moscow, Russia, during a mock flight to Mars.
These training sites offer useful practice. But they mainly promote education and public awareness, said Greg Williams. Williams works for NASA.
"That's been really important, just to keep the buzz going about it," Williams said. "[We want] to highlight not only the challenges of getting on Mars and being on Mars, but also what we are accomplishing in order to make that happen."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
QUESTION 7
QUESTION 7 OF 8
7 / 8
Which information is not in the article?
A.How crews are chosen by the Mars Society to participate in simulated missions
B.How the Mars Society funds its Utah outpost, where it runs simulated Mars missions
C.How the Mars Society's simulated Mars missions are set up to take place in Utah
D.How much it cost students to participate in the Mars Society mission in 2015
D. How much it cost students to participate in the Mars Society mission in 2015
wrong
I apologize for the incorrect response. The correct answer is A. How crews are chosen by the Mars Society to participate in simulated missions. The article does not provide information on the selection process for crews participating in the simulated missions.
Based on information in the article, the reader can predict that __________.
A.NASA will stop offering money to students who participate in Mars Society simulated space missions.
B.NASA will support the Mars Society in its efforts to increase public awareness of and excitement about space travel.
C.Mars Society officials will no longer allow students to plant flags in the soil outside of the Mars Desert Research Station.
D.Mars Society officials will build a new habitat for mock missions that is much larger than the current center.