These seven students from the Isae-Supaero engineering school will be cut off from the world in the Utah desert (United States) to simulate life on the red planet.
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They will live an extraordinary experience. Seven students from the Higher Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Isae-Supaéro) in Toulouse begin on Sunday February 18 a simulation of life on Mars in the heart of the Utah desert in the United States. This is the 10th edition of this mission where these young men and women will spend four weeks cut off from the world, in a replica of a space base such as could one day exist on the red planet.
These students will have to live together in a vertical cylinder eight meters in diameter with one floor. Rudimentary living conditions for which students prepare. “From a human point of view, I have a great curiosity to know how it will happen in practice, and the way I will react in this closed environmentsays Léa, 23 years old. How will me and the crew react to each other? ? What balances will we be able to find? ?”
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Daily hazards
These questions that Léa asks herself are at the heart of this mission. It should make it possible to study behaviors in confined environments, and the impact of these living conditions on the experiences of students. Each of them leaves with a specific task. “I’m going to be the crew’s astronomerexplains Léa. I will essentially follow the evolution of the sun, taking photos regularly to be able to see if there are any appearances of sunspots. How do they develop ? In which direction they are going ? It’s a very interesting principle, about everything that will be the magnetic field of the sun.”
The hazards of everyday life on such a basis, Marie, 22 years old, knows them well. She participated in the mission in 2023. This time she will be commander : “It feels like it was such a short time ago, so it feels really weird to be leaving again. It’s a lot of excitement.” It’s up to her to manage the unexpected. They can be numerous. “Last time, I broke my collarbone after three weeks on a mission, says Marie. It was in the evening, I fell and suffered a big fracture. I left the simulation to go have surgery. This is where we see that it is important to have a united crew and a good commander.”
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It is also essential to have precise preparation, insists Stéphanie Lizy-Destrez, the teacher-researcher who follows these students. There is a lot at stake, partner laboratories and agencies are waiting for results. “There is a lot of research on human factors, but also research on the atmosphereexplains Stéphanie Lizy-Destrez. There are space agencies that lend them equipment that will one day fly and this allows protocols to be checked and procedures to be improved. So there is also this interest which is still important.” Without forgetting the unique opportunity for these young people to put their studies into practice and catch the eye of recruiters.
Four weeks “on Mars” for Toulouse students: report by Guillaume Farriol