Purdue student simulates NASA mission to Mars

• Jocelyn Dunn spent 8 months living in a dome on Earth's largest active volcano to simulate Mars
• Dunn, a student in industrial engineering, was one of 6 to participate in the third HI-SEAS mission
• She used wearable technology to measure the stress levels among herself and each participant
• Her research will be used to write her dissertation and aid NASA in a future manned mission to Mars

As Jocelyn Dunn drove closer to the top of the volcano, she noticed that plant life started to recede. Animal life was no where to be found. Civilization faded into the rear-view mirror.

She looked to the five people with whom she'd be living atop Mauna Loa, Earth's largest active volcano. They all looked down at their cellphones, saying goodbye to family and friends for nearly a year.

The road turned into a dirt path as their car passed a gate, which swung closed behind them with a sign marked in bold letters: "SIMULATION IN PROGRESS. DO NOT PROCEED PAST THIS POINT."

Past the gate, there was nothing for miles but jagged red rock. For the next eight months, this would be Dunn's world. Mars, to be specific — or about as close as you can get.

Fast forward to the beginning of fall semester 2015 at Purdue University, where Dunn, a doctoral student in industrial engineering, returned to write her dissertation on the third HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) mission, conducted through NASA on Hawaii's largest island to simulate a Martian environment. She and five scientists lived under a canvas dome, surviving on freeze-dried food for the entirety of the experiment, save for a handful of excursions dressed in spacesuits on the rocky terrain to observe and study their surroundings.

"We only had one porthole to look out at the surroundings, and nothing ever changes except the clouds," Dunn said during an interview at Grisson Hall, where she studies data analytics.

The isolation and sensory deprivation are functions of space exploration, which has captured Dunn's curiosity since she was a child in Florida, home of Cape Canaveral Air Force Base and the last place many astronauts see before leaving Earth. She went on to study aerospace engineering and was recruited to pursue a master's degree in biomedical engineering and a doctoral degree at Purdue, the "cradle of astronauts."

"So far, she's excelled on every level," said Eric Nauman, Dunn's master's adviser and a member of her Ph.D. committee, "and we have high hopes of where she ends up."

Could that be on Mars? Nauman said he wouldn't be surprised.

"Honestly, I think she would be game for it," he said.

Conflict arises

The HI-SEAS mission was an opportunity for Dunn to combine all her knowledge into meaningful research, studying the stress levels among herself and other participants. She used wearable technology, including Jawbone wristbands and Hexoskin biometric shirts, to measure activity and sleep levels and cardiac and respiratory performance. She collected hair and urine samples to measure cell damage. She administered surveys and questionnaires for a more in-depth look at stress.

"I'm not that interested in the spacecraft. I'm interested in the biomedical devices that keep astronauts safe," she said. "I realized we have all these biomedical devices, and there's tons of data streaming out of them, and we need to be able to understand the human performance."

She's analyzing the data from the mission as she writes her dissertation, so it's too early to say how stressed the participants were. But imagine living in a confined space with the same people for three-quarters of a year, and you'll get the idea.

"You can't say, 'Oh, I have no stress for eight months.' Then I guess we should all live in a dome," she said. "We have elevated stressors there: lack of privacy; not being able to communicate in real time with your family and friends and colleagues back on Earth; the confinement to your social situation — you can't get away from the other five crew members besides an hour here or there."

When conflict arose, participants took a scientific approach to come to a resolution.

"You have to get over it because you're still stuck together for however many more months or weeks," she said. "Anything that would happen, we had to debrief about it or do some kind of conflict resolution to get your stress out. So you exercise or maybe watch movies to relax. We had our own different coping methods, but you have to get back into the group and be fine."

Time begins to crawl

Eventually, the experiment came to an end and, in the final days, Dunn said time began to crawl as she dreamed of plans to see family and friends and take her first trip to Europe. When she emerged from the dome, her skin was as white as a ghost's.

"It was little scary to see your skin in direct light after you emerged," she said, "because you didn’t realize exactly how pale you were."

Of the 7,000 people who applied, Dunn was one of six selected to participate in the longest Mars analog simulation in history. It's a nice resume item when it comes time for a manned mission to the red planet — even more feasible after the revelation last month that flowing water likely exists on the surface at certain times.

Her record will be broken, however, when six more scientists emerge from a yearlong mission taking place on the same volcano.

"They’ll surpass that," she said. "We hope so."

Learn more about NASA's HI-SEAS

To follow scientists as they complete the 12-month HI-SEAS mission and to see more from Dunn's eight-month experiment, visit www.hi-seas.org.