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.
Write a summary of today's article. As you write your summary, complete the following steps:
STEP 1: Read the article in order to understand the text.
STEP 2a: Identify the topic sentence for each paragraph.
STEP 2b: Take out any details that are not needed.
STEP 2c: Combine the information—in your own words—into a single paragraph.
STEP 3: Rethink your summary and the article.
STEP 4: Check your summary. Then double-check it.
A group of six college students from Belgium have traveled to Utah's Mars Desert Research Station to simulate living on Mars. The site allows crews to mimic interplanetary missions and raise excitement about traveling to Mars. The students were chosen by the nonprofit Mars Society and each filled a role that the society believes will be essential to a real mission. The training is not meant to create future space travelers, but rather to illustrate the issues that people on an actual Mars mission would face. This training site is not the only one, as there have been simulations in Hawaii and Moscow as well. The training sites promote education and public awareness about Mars missions. The Mars Society has spent about $1 million on the desert research center, with contributions from NASA and donations from its members.
simplify
A group of college students from Belgium traveled to a research center in Utah to simulate living on Mars. The training is meant to show the challenges of a Mars mission and educate the public. The Mars Society, a nonprofit organization, chose the students and each had a specific role to play. Other simulations have taken place in Hawaii and Moscow. The Mars Society has spent $1 million on the research center with contributions from NASA and member donations.
What is this article mainly about?
A.A group called the Mars Society charges students $1,000 each to participate in one of its training programs.
B.A group called the Mars Society runs simulated missions to Mars at a remote Utah outpost as a way to illustrate the issues that people on an actual Mars mission would confront.
C.A group called the Mars Society recently sent a group of Belgian students to Utah to live on freeze-dried foods for two weeks.
D.A group called the Mars Society built a "habitat" that it plans to use as living quarters for students from Belgium.
B. A group called the Mars Society runs simulated missions to Mars at a remote Utah outpost as a way to illustrate the issues that people on an actual Mars mission would confront.
Which of these had not yet happened when this article was written?
A.The Mars Society received $150,000 in contributions from NASA, despite the fact that the agencies are not related.
B.A group of Belgian students planted the Belgian flag in the ground outside the Mars Society's "habitat" in Utah.
C.Romain Compere, a Belgian student, announced that he was at the age when he would be willing to risk his life for science.
D.Bastien Mathurin acted as student-commander on a simulated mission to Mars, which included six students from Belgium.
C. Romain Compere, a Belgian student, announced that he was at the age when he would be willing to risk his life for science.
Which is the closest antonym for the word simulated, as it's used in the article?
A.Assumed
B.Ambitious
C.Actual
D.Acclaimed
C. Actual
This article would be most useful as a source for a student research project on __________.
A.The history of simulated missions to various destinations
B.The challenges facing today's astronauts
C.The steps being taken toward future Mars travel
D.The typical costs of interplanetary travel