A PhD student of Biomedical Engineering at NUIG has moved a step closer to her lifetime goal of setting foot on Mars – after she was selected to head up a crew of the mission to simulate the conditions of life and work on the Red Planet.
Ilaria Cinelli, who is working with the College of Engineering and Informatics at NUIG, was selected as Emerging Space Leader of the Mars Mission because of her extracurricular activities in this field.
The 31 year old graduate of the University of Pisa led Crew 172, an international team of six people, under the constraints of a simulated Mars mission over four weeks.
The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), owned and operated by the Mars Society, is a full-scale analog facility in Utah in the United States that supports Earth-based research in pursuit of the technology, operations, and science required for human exploration on Mars.
The unique facility is surrounded by terrain that is a geologic Mars analog, which offered Commander Cinelli and her crew opportunities for rigorous field studies as they would be conducted during an actual space mission.
This study will lead to new insights into the nature and evolution of Mars, earth – and life on Mars.
And it is a major step for the Galway-based Italian whose ambition is to be on that mission to Mars.
“I want to enter the Italian Space Agency as an astronaut. Because I really want to land on Mars, with the flag on the suit,” she said.
Her recent extreme mission is not unlike the fictional story behind the 2016 Oscar nominated movie The Martian, starring Matt Damon.
The Hollywood star plays astronaut Mark Watney who is left behind when an unexpected storm hits Mars, leaving him to engineer ways to feed himself and survive the harsh environment of Mars.
Commander Cinelli’s leadership role allowed her to measure the impact of human behaviour among her crew, brought about by living in such a confined environment and the loss of personal contact with family and friends.
Ms Cinelli collected data-based research on the crew’s changing behaviour patterns throughout the mission.
Due to monotony, loneliness, lack of social contacts, major responsibilities and stress, Ms Cinelli’s research observed a marked improvement in the crew’s performance in the development of successful strategies; increased confidence in performance; the ability to independently deal with complex problems; higher levels of inner emotional energy, a resistance to stress, increased internal control and social growth.
“The purpose of this mission was to investigate the impact of isolation on human behaviour, performance and leadership,” explained Ilaria.
“The Mars simulation experiment is aimed at increasing the physiological and technical autonomy of the crew in preparation for an actual long-term mission over a number of years.
“During these missions, the marsonauts are training to make full use of the available resources and independence of decision making from remote support.
“The MDRS is in the middle of the Utah desert and three hours away from the nearest town. Extreme conditions were created due to the limited amount of resources available such as food, water, electricity and WiFi.
“The mission was the first for most of the crew who had never experienced living in such an extreme environment before. They made great progress throughout the mission by stepping outside of their comfort zone, overcoming stress, increasing control and overall performance,” she added.
MDRS officially began operations in 2001 as a fully volunteer enterprise, which is now in its 16th field season.
To date, over 1,000 people have participated as crew members at the habitat, and many are now involved in other analog studies at different locations around the world.
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