Six volunteers will live for four months in Hawai'i in a habitat similar to the Mars Desert Research Station, pictured here; researchers will study their food preparation, menu fatigue and other issues related to diet and nutrition.
Astronauts on a mission to Mars will need much more than freeze-dried ice cream to sustain them, and researchers at Cornell are working to determine the best way to keep them well nourished during their three-year journeys and four-month stays on the Red Planet.
To do so, they are seeking volunteers to spend four months in a simulated Mars habitat on the barren lava fields of Hawai’i.
Jean Hunter, associate professor of biological and environmental engineering, and Bruce Halpern, professor of psychology and neurobiology and behavior, have teamed up with Kim Binsted, associate professor of information and computer science at the University of Hawai’i-Manoa, to conduct a $947,000, three-year NASA study on the diets of the six volunteers, who will be required to live and work like astronauts, including suiting up in space gear whenever they venture outdoors.
One of the biggest food challenges astronauts face is menu fatigue, Hunter said. They not only tire of eating foods they normally enjoy but also tend to eat less, which can put them at risk for nutritional deficiency, loss of bone and muscle mass, and reduced physical capabilities. Moreover, all foods decline in nutritional quality over time, and only a few of the many available astronaut foods have the three-to-five-year shelf life required for a Mars mission.
On a landed mission, however, the planet’s gravity would make cooking -- and perhaps gardening -- possible, which would give the astronauts more food variety and relieve menu fatigue, Hunter said.
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