• Question: what practical advice do you have for practicing coping with conditions on mars, like practicing space suit wearing by walking with weights on your legs?

    Asked by alpacasmurf to Nick, Alan on 12 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Alan Fitzsimmons

      Alan Fitzsimmons answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      That wouldn’t help. Mars is a small planet, and astronauts will only weigh one third of what they weigh on Earth. We need to practise what we already do, which is set up bases in antarctica and deserts. Mars is much colder and dustier than most places on Earth, so astronauts will need to cope with those conditions while wearing spacesuits.

    • Photo: Nick Wright

      Nick Wright answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      Probably one of the hardest things we need to cope with when going on long space missions to places like Mars is dealing with the isolation and being in cramp conditions with the same small group of people for a long time. Astronauts who go to Mars will have to be kind and friendly people who don’t get annoyed by the people around them and can be supportive in a group.

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