Mars New year leader to participate in NASA simulation
MARS BOROUGH — A Mars New Year leader is about to take part in the next best thing to going to outer space.
John Donehoo, the current chair of the Mars New Year festival, will have the chance to participate in NASA research and experience a simulated mission to Mars’s moon Phobos, without ever leaving Earth.
As a participant in Campaign 6 of the Human Exploration Research Analog, or HERA, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Donehoo and three other “crew members” from across the country — Erin Anderson, Susan Hilbig and Stephanie Navarro — will live and work like astronauts in an isolated environment for 45 days.
The crew’s participation in the experiment will help NASA study how crew members adjust to isolation, confinement and remote conditions on Earth, before ever sending astronauts on deep-space missions.
“(It provides) a way for the average citizen to kind of get involved, but on the practical side, they felt they could use that to learn a lot about human behavior,” Donehoo said. “It was just really a fascinating opportunity.”
Donehoo, of Freedom, Beaver County, is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and licensed pharmacist. He works with the health care provider Alosa Health as his day job, but he's always been fascinated by space.
Donehoo applied to the program about a year ago, in order to fit within the age limits of 55 and under, as he will turn 56 this December. His interest in space science, especially in the area of human health and performance in space, drew him to take the leap.
“How can I make an impact in making it safe for human spaceflight? How can we make human spaceflight accessible to everyone?” Donehoo said. “This, I thought, outside of a cool, interesting, exciting, thrilling experience, is a way to really contribute to helping the next crews that actually are going to space. How can I help make it safer for them and contribute to mission success in a meaningful way?”
In June, after an interview in Texas, Donehoo found out he had been chosen for the program. He talked with his wife, employer and family about the decision to participate.
“It’s a big ask — you’re away for two months,” he said. “You’re away from home, your family, your job — it's not just yourself. For me, it was, ‘What am I asking of others?’”
On Donehoo’s part, he’s honored to participate in the experiment, and grateful to his family for their enthusiasm.
“They’re all super supportive,” Donehoo said. “My support system is awesome. I wouldn’t be able to have this opportunity if it weren’t for the greatest wife in the world and the greatest family in the world, that says, ‘Yeah, we support you in this.’ All the people I’ve worked with and collaborated with in the space community are part of this, as well. I wouldn’t be in a position to do this if it weren’t for them.”
Donehoo compared the HERA mission to a long family vacation. The custom mission patch that the crew helped design even includes the phrase “sed tamen advenimus?” In Latin, the phrase roughly translates to “Are we there yet?”
“Imagine being in the car for 45 days, and you can’t get out. How would you manage just being together, outside of the nuts and bolts of food, water and everything?” he said. “It’s really learning about yourself, and how you can cohere, and how can you manage conflict and stress, and still accomplish the mission. For me, it just goes back to my time in the Marine Corps. You learn, it’s accomplishing the mission and taking care of your people.”
The space the crew will stay in includes a workspace, a kitchen, a bathroom and living quarters, and in total is less than 600 square feet, Donehoo said. The crew will enter the quarters on Aug. 26, and live and work inside until they “return to Earth” on Oct. 10.
Crew members will be monitored at all times by Mission Control, and have limited contact with their family back home, but simulated communications delays will increase over the course of the program.
“It’s the ultimate experience of teamwork – how you can be in this isolated, confined environment for an extended period of time with a job to do, and maintain that sense of a team,” he said. “Everything is valuable. What worked is great, but what didn’t work is just as valuable, and why? We learn either way.”
Gregg Hartung, mayor of Mars Borough, said he is excited for Donehoo’s participation in the HERA project.
“It’s kind of special to have someone from our Mars New Year committee, who has been involved for some time, to be able to participate with NASA in an experiment related to the planet Mars,” Hartung said.
The Mars New Year event, held every two years, in rough alignment with the new year on the planet Mars, brings NASA experts and space enthusiasts to downtown Mars Borough for a multi-day educational celebration.
“To be able to connect with NASA and have something like that happen, especially when they’re simulating the idea of being on a moon of Mars. It’s right in our wheelhouse in terms of what we are trying to do with Mars New Year,” Hartung said.
