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Questions and Answers:
Christopher Carr '99 What intrigues you about Mars? The exploration of Mars is a grand human adventure. Exploring Mars is like stepping forward or backward in time to an alternate Earth. There are many fascinating scientific questions that, for me, in and of themselves justify the exploration of Mars. What we currently know about the past history of Mars suggests that we have the opportunity to begin to answer some of our most profound questions about the nature of life in the universe. Whether life exists or has existed on Mars is only the tip of the iceberg: more importantly, we can attempt to understand why life did or did not exist on Mars. Either way, the answer to that question has profound importance for our perception of what it means to be human. I am equally excited by the human drama of Mars exploration. Surviving the extreme conditions and isolation during a human mission to Mars would be an incredible experience, and one in which I hope the entire human race will participate. I try to imagine what emotions a Martian astronaut, after having lived for a couple of years in a dry dusty world where liquid water cannot exist, would feel during a Boston rain storm--just picture an astronaut wobbling down the street among grumbling pedestrians softly humming, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood"! What is the biggest barrier to Mars exploration in your lifetime? We're exploring Mars right now! Already we have amazing global maps of Mars and have the opportunity to watch the changing of the seasons, the movement of dunes, dust storms and dust devils, and so much more. The major barrier to human exploration is probably political: continued exploration of Mars and human exploration will rightly require the support of the public and our government. The cost of a sustained program of human and robotic exploration would likely be possible for about the cost to each American of two trips to the movies per year. Aside from the political barriers, protecting crew members from the damaging effects of radiation and the decreases in bone strength are probably the two most pressing physiological challenges to human exploration. What work are you doing as a graduate student in health sciences and technology to try to overcome some of those barriers? Future explorers of the Martian surface will require increased self-sufficiency and autonomy in order to survive and carry out their mission goals without real-time support from a ground crew on Earth. Because future human explorers are likely to stay on the Martian surface for almost two Earth years at a time, the mission architecture that supports their activities will need to be flexible and robust. I am trying to look at the design of extravehicular activity systems for Mars surface exploration from the viewpoint of the end-user: the astronaut. Future space suits must provide enhanced mobility and enhanced information interfaces in order for us to realize the full potential of human explorers. I am working at the interface between the medical challenges imposed by living on the Martian surface and the operational goals and constraints of exploration. Surface exploration activities (such as field geology), the environment, and the physiological capabilities of the astronauts must all be taken into account to plan and execute extravehicular activities while ensuring crew health and safety.
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