Have you ever wondered what it would really be like to live on Mars? Barbara Braun doesn’t have to wonder. She participated in a two-week simulation of a Mars mission and returned with many fascinating stories to share. In fact, we’ve published articles about her Mars mission in the latest issues of CRICKET and SPIDER Magazines! She also took part in a live webinar last month, attended by over a dozen classrooms from our TryEngineering Together eMentoring program— an amazing learning experience for all!
Barbara Braun is an assistant general manager at The Aerospace Corporation, where she’s worked since 2000. As an aerospace engineer, she has experience designing satellites and providing remote support to spaceflight operations. She hasn’t been to outer space herself, but her “Mars mission” with five other crewmates was about as close as you can without leaving the planet!
We’re sharing just a few of our favorite facts from Barbara Braun’s simulated life on Mars with you in honor of this awesome collaboration.
Where on Earth can you pretend you’re on Mars? The deserts of Utah!
The Mars Desert Research Station in Hanksville, Utah stood in for Mars on the mission. It wasn’t the first time the facility was used— not by a long shot! The MDRS was first built in 2001 by the Mars Society and was chosen for its remote, desolate setting and rocky desert landscape. In fact, many films have used this area to stand in for Mars or other planets, including Star Trek, John Carter, Galaxy Quest, and more. It’s certainly a lot easier than filming on Mars!
Other than the breathable atmosphere, there’s one big difference that sets Utah apart from Mars: it’s much warmer! That’s why the Mars Society’s other simulated Mars habitat is the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, set in chilly northern Canada.
Even for a simulated mission, it took two years to prepare.
The entire team took preparing for the mission very seriously. After the crew was selected, they needed to learn about the MDRS and what it would actually be like to live and work there. They also needed to plan and decide what kinds of experiments they’d conduct on the mission. What supplies would they need to bring? What kind of problem-solving would they need to do? (Lots, as you’ll soon see!) As the mission got closer, they were able to plan out their schedules for each day in more detail.
The team lived inside a research station called the “Hab,” but spent plenty of time outside, too!
The Mars Desert Research Station consists of two main parts: the Hab, a two-story cylindrical building that looks a lot like a spacecraft, and the Science Dome, where the crew performed scientific research and experiments. The Hab and the Science Dome are connected by above-ground tunnels. Inside the Hab, each crewmate was assigned a closet-sized bunk room and got to share a kitchen and a common area. Pretty snug, but that wasn’t the only place they spent their time.
The team also performed experiments outside, which they called extra-vehicular activities, or EVAs. For these, Braun and her crew had to put on space suits and stand in an “airlock” for five minutes before being allowed to go outside. They even took modified all-terrain vehicles styled as “Mars rovers” to explore more distant areas. Sounds pretty Martian to us!
Life on Mars is a lot of work, but never all work and no play!
In their spare time, the crew was able to watch movies, play board games, and create artwork. Each evening, they exercised with fitness bands. Braun also shares that the crew got pretty creative coming up with recipes. Food at the Hab was typical astronaut fare and largely freeze-dried. That gets old after two weeks! Braun personally helped make fresh bread using dehydrated flakes from her sourdough starter. Now that’s creative!
As Health and Safety Officer, Barbara Braun’s days were jam-packed.
Making sure the crew stayed well-fed was only one aspect of Braun’s responsibilities. She oversaw the fitness regimen of the crew and helped study how astronauts would exercise in space. She also researched how time delays might affect communication between astronauts and their families back home. Solving those problems makes life safer, easier, and healthier for astronauts now and in the future! Braun is also an EMT and volunteer firefighter, so she was well-equipped to spring to action should any emergencies arise. Braun also helped the rest of the crew with 3D-mapping the environment, taking samples from the surrounding area, and performing maintenance on the Hab.
Astronauts need to be handy!
That maintenance we just mentioned? It’s more crucial than you’d think. If the toilet breaks on your Martian research pod, you can’t just call a plumber to come fix it. Barbara Braun found herself fixing the toilet within the Hab and, along with the rest of the crew, repairing her own spacesuit using soldering irons. On a real space mission, there’s very little margin for error with that kind of repair work! Because of this, Braun says, “It’s going to take not just astronauts, but all sorts of people—like plumbers and welders and electricians—to live and work in space.”
Barbara Braun has wise advice to share for kids interested in working in the field.
Her biggest piece of advice to aspiring aerospace engineers and astronauts: “Follow your passion! You’ll always do your best work if you are excited about what you are working on.” We think that’s good advice for any other career goals, too! Braun also advises kids to read voraciously, not just nonfiction books, but speculative fiction books like science fiction that envision what life in space might actually look like. Having a big imagination is crucial to problem-solving! Finally, she adds, “Get involved in activities that let you try out different things that you are interested in.” You never know which hobby might end up crucial to a Mars mission!
We loved getting to learn about this unique mission! Thank you to Barbara Braun and the Aerospace Corporation for sharing so much cool information with us.
If your kids dream of following in Barbara Braun’s footsteps and beyond, consider checking out our award-winning children’s magazines. They’re filled with stories, activities, and enthralling STEM articles to inspire curious kids of all ages and interests to reach for the stars!
