Researchers at the University of Birmingham have launched the Bio-SPHERE project in a unique research facility located 1.1 km below the surface, in one of the deepest mine sites in the UK. The project investigates how scientific and medical operations would take place in the challenging environments of the Moon and Mars.
It is the first of a series of new laboratory facilities planned to study how humans might work – and stay healthy – during long space missions, a key requirement for ensuring mission continuity on other planets.
[...] The Bio-SPHERE project is based in a 3,000m3 tunnel network adjacent to the Boulby Laboratory, which go through 250-million-year-old rock salt deposits, consisting of Permian evaporite layers left over from the Zechstein Sea. This geological environment, together with the deep subsurface location, have enabled researchers to recreate the operational conditions humans would experience working in similar caverns on the Moon and Mars. This includes remoteness, limited access to new materials and challenges in moving heavy equipment around.
At the same time, thanks to the ultra-low radiation environment provided by that depth, the location will enable scientists to investigate how effective underground habitats might be in protecting space crews from deep-space radiation, which is a significant risk in space exploration, as well as other hazards, such as falling debris from meteorites, which risks damaging the life-support infrastructure.
[...] Lead researcher Dr Alexandra Iordachescu, in the University of Birmingham's School of Chemical Engineering, said: "We are excited to be partnering with the fantastic science team at the Boulby Underground Laboratory. This new capability will help to gather information that can advise on the life support systems, devices and biomaterials which could be used in medical emergencies and tissue repair following damage in deep-space missions.
"These types of metrics can guide system design and help to assess the scientific needs and acceptable timeframes in bioengineering operations under the constraints of isolated environments, such as space habitats. The data is likely to bring numerous benefits for Earth-based applications as well, such as delivering biomedical interventions in remote areas or in hazardous environments and more generally, understanding biomedical workflows in these non-ideal environments."
Journal Reference:
Iordachescu, A., Eisenstein, N. & Appleby-Thomas, G. Space habitats for bioengineering and surgical repair: addressing the requirement for reconstructive and research tissues during deep-space missions [open]. npj Microgravity 9, 23 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41526-023-00266-3
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday July 17, @04:31PM (7 children)
A good old lair. All you need are your lasers and your freakin' sharks and you can go full James Bond villain. Or you could be Fallout vaultdweller.
That said I'm sure it makes sense if they plan on building their Mars bases in lava tubes and such places to get away from all the horrible martian sandstorms, radiation and such things.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Monday July 17, @04:36PM (5 children)
Sure, underground = protected, which is why we usually say "cave men" and not "plainspeople."
I kind of wonder about the fixation on "delivering biomedical interventions" and "understanding biomedical workflows." If you're on Mars, I would think biomedical anything would be limited to the first aid and other treatments you expressly planned for beforehand.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday July 17, @05:22PM (2 children)
With a ~ 1-2 year turnaround time, I guess one might decide to plan for a major medical emergency. I don't know what is the likelihood of a hospitalisation of 5 fit people over the course of 1 year. Of course, if one really were to try for colonisation then hospitals become necessary.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday July 17, @06:04PM (1 child)
It could be anything I guess. After all if you can't medically extract people to safety you have to do it with what you got. One would assume they are fit or checked out before traveling there but accidents do happen, perhaps something as simple as falling down could have bad consequences or if they somehow have dental problems that require some kind of surgery or drilling. I don't fancy going back to ye' olden days of the blacksmith just yanking it out. But you gotta do what you gotta do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 17, @07:20PM
But you gotta do what you gotta do [bbc.com]
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Monday July 17, @09:05PM
First aid is the aid you give to someone to keep them from dying before you can get them to a doctor. Generally speaking it buys the patient minutes or hours of time, maybe days if you're lucky.
It wouldn't be much use on Mars, unless you've also got doctors there to do the real work. No amount of first aid is going to keep someone alive for a year or two until the next launch window to Earth opens up.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday July 18, @12:17AM
As has been noted, "other treatments" is pretty expansive. Here's some random treatment targets I think would be on that list - not just as emergency treatments but diagnostic and preventative as well: acute appendicitis, depression, lost limbs and other body parts - including replacement prosthetic, sucking chest wounds, all the fun stuff that brings you in to a dentist, heart attacks and strokes, untreatable illnesses and conditions (like most cancers IMHO) that can be mitigated or delayed for a couple of years, etc.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Monday July 17, @09:38PM
Tunnels have some great advantages when it comes to both radiation, but the sandstorms are usually grossly oversold as a threat. They can block your solar panels from getting sun and reduce visibility to dangerous levels, but that's about it, aside from making it harder to avoid tracking toxic dust inside. Martian air is so thin that even the fastest hurricane-shaming winds only have as much force behind them as a light breeze on Earth. Even an inflatable habitat won't tremble in the wind - the worst you're going to get is the hiss of of sand hitting the outside.
Windborn sand traveling at high speeds will still have a sandblasting effect - but the density is still low, and grains are heavily weathered (rather than the sharp grains used for intentional sandblasting on Earth), dramatically reducing their abrasiveness. As demonstrated by the fact that none of our probes have suffered any serious surface abrasion problems. Early on people worried that the sand blasting would etch the surface of the solar panels, reducing their efficiency, but in practice sandstorms generally *improve* the efficiency of the solar panels instead, by blowing off the dust that's built up on them.
Now, fabric like on space suits might be a lot more vulnerable, and inflatable habitats might benefit from a protective outer layer (like being buried under some sand), but so long as you're inside a storm is a non-issue. The biggest direct danger from a sandstorm is probably lightning, and that's quite rare on Mars.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 17, @05:40PM
As compared with lunar regolith or basalt, or even Martian soil, salt is pretty easy digging - particularly with breathable atmosphere locally available.
I'll be more impressed when they at least take the step of closing off the exterior air circulation and dealing with recycled atmosphere.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 4, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Monday July 17, @06:02PM (4 children)
This depth would be severe overkill to the point of being silly on Mars. A few meters is sufficient to reduce the radiation to within the annual exposure limit for the general public, much lower than current astronauts receive on orbit in ISS.
When imagining long-term Martian habitats, imagine subway tunnels instead of salt mines.
This isn't to say that we'd ignore a geologically stable deep-mars tunnel network if we found one. That would be a research goldmine. We'd study that for decades looking for evidence of current or ancient life forms and there's no way we'd let dirty humans crawl around in it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Tork on Monday July 17, @06:57PM (2 children)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 17, @09:22PM (1 child)
There are several mines that have been developed for various other purposes - this one seems to have been proximate to enough space nerds to get the job.
I always liked this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SubTropolis [wikipedia.org]
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Monday July 17, @10:08PM
I've been to its cousin, the Louisville Megacavern. The scale of it is truly incredible when you're standing in it, and the idea that they filled in a two-thirds of it and it's still that big just boggles my mind.
(To save the uninitiated a click, these are both underground limestone mines that have been repurposed as underground storage facilities. If you ever need a sheltered out-of-the-way place for you and a few hundred thousand friends, they have the room. Bring a flashlight though.)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 17, @09:19PM
Boulby is already extant for many other purposes: https://www.boulby.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/Overview-of-the-Laboratory.aspx [stfc.ac.uk] The space colony research is about a 3rd order afterthought.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Monday July 17, @07:38PM
Once they have studied said tunnels, they can build new tunnels and start living there - on Earth.