NASA is launching a new experiment as part of the HERA program on Friday, September 9. It will examine human health during prolonged isolation to simulate a flight to Mars. This time among the participants of the Ukrainian team will be Sergii Iakymov.
HERA experiment
NASA continues to conduct experiments under the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) program. It aims to reveal how human health is affected by prolonged isolation and other factors that occur during a simulated Mars mission. On Friday, August 9, 2024, another team of four will begin their mission.
This mission will be the third this year to take place under the HERA program. The previous experiment ended on June 24. Four participants, including Ukrainian Sergii Iakymov, are expected to spend 45 days inside a 60 m2 container located at the Johnson Space Center.
At the same time, they will not just sit inside, but perform the scientific tasks and technical work that real astronauts would have to face while traveling to Mars. Among other things in the program of their activities will be even virtual exits to the surface of the red planet and even control the drone on its surface.
Nonetheless, that is not what will be important, but a study of the health of four volunteers. The program is not as large-scale as the CHAPEA experiment. However, it will still contain 18 different medical tests that participants will undergo while in an enclosed space.
Sergii Iakymov and other participants of the experiment
Ukrainian Sergii Iakymov, who this time will participate in the HERA experiment with full right can be called the main Ukrainian “Martian”. He graduated from National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” as an aviation engineer and has been working in the space industry for many years.
At the same time, Sergii since childhood dreams of going to Mars and does everything possible to achieve this goal. It was selected as a candidate for a mission to the red planet almost a decade ago, but the project was shut down.
Iakymov has been working in the United States ever since and is a regular participant in various “ground” Martian missions. In particular, last year he was named chief of a research station in the Mojave Desert.
The other participants in the third HERA experiment were Erin Anderson, Brandon Kent, and Sarah Elizabeth McCandless. The first is a structural engineer at NASA’s Virginia Research Center. She has considerable experience in space projects.
Brandon Kent is the head of a medical company. He specializes in finding new ways to fight cancer. Sarah Elizabeth McCandless is a navigation systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
According to www.nasa.gov
