For nearly 4 weeks, from February 12 to March 11, 2023, six ISAE-SUPAERO students, as well as an alumni of the institution, boarded an analogous life simulation mission on Mars. They went to the Utah desert with the aim of testing numerous scientific experiments, in collaboration with laboratories and manufacturers, in the same conditions as if they were on the planet Mars! Business Cool spoke with Marie Delaroche, a student at ISAE-SUPAERO who was part of this mission, to learn more about her journey, her objectives and her feedback on this experience like no other.
The journey of an ISAE-SUPAERO student
What is your background?
I have a somewhat unusual educational background, because I did not study in France. I did almost all of my schooling abroad, more precisely in New York, where I completed all of my primary, middle and high school. Subsequently, I returned to France when I was 18, I did a preparatory class in two years, and then joined ISAE-SUPAERO.
Why did you choose ISAE-SUPAERO?
ISAE-SUPAERO, it’s an old dream. I have always been passionate about space, since I was little I have loved astronomy. When I was in second grade, I did my first internship which allowed me to discover the world of adults. I was lucky enough to be able to do this internship at CNES in Toulouse. I then asked how we go about integrating the world of space. My tutor told me that in France, there are not 36 solutions, you have to go through ISAE-SUPAERO. So it stayed in my memory. In prep, I fought a lot to get into this school.
Does the aerospace world interest you to the point of making it your career?
In the world of space, it’s very broad, there are a lot of career possibilities. What particularly interests me is working in a space agency, perhaps CNES or ESA. What interests me is to make the link between the scientific community and their means, their objectives, as well as to be part of the decision-making process, which is now more political or even geopolitical. What interests me is to put myself on the border between these two worlds and to make the link to facilitate communication.
The Mars life simulation mission in the Utah desert
What was the mission you carried out in the Utah desert?
It is a mission of a mainly scientific nature. The goal for us was to be able, at our level as engineering school students, to contribute to space research. In particular, by putting us in contact with researchers who have experiences that require operators, in a confined and hostile environment. During this one-month mission, our objective was to contribute as much as possible to their research. We had around fifteen experiments that we took with us and carried out during our mission. The goal is to succeed in recreating as faithfully as possible a hostile, confined and extreme environment. So that the experiments are as fair and faithful as possible for researchers.
How did this happen?
It went very well, from a scientific point of view, we achieved a good part of our objectives despite necessarily some hazards and certain conditions to which we had to adapt on site. Obviously, these hazards and these problems are really part of the mission. In a real space mission, there will be problems, there will be hazards and being confronted with that makes the simulation even more faithful.
What scientific experiments did you carry out there?
There are several broad categories, we had human factors experiments, fairly in-depth studies of our physiology and the way we react to the environment. In fact, we carried a lot of sensors with us during the mission, which record heart rate, heart rate variability and a whole bunch of other factors. As part of these human factors experiments, we answered daily questionnaires about the quality of our sleep, how we feel, how we perceive the team, etc.
Atmospheric physics experiments were also carried out. Since the desert is a perfect place to carry out this type of experiment, particularly on the study of the magnetic field, we carried it out outside, which required extra-vehicular exits.
Finally, to give you one last example, we carried out an experiment in collaboration with CNES, which was an ultrasound experiment. That is to say that, in space, for much longer missions, if one day humanity is required to go to Mars, communication delays will be such as in the ISS, for example, astronauts need to perform ultrasound scans to monitor their state of health. They are operated on remotely by specialists who are on the ground, because doing an ultrasound requires a lot of training, it’s quite complicated.
For long-term missions, astronauts will no longer be able to do this monitoring from the ground, because communications delays are too long. They will therefore have to be able to do it themselves. CNES researchers have therefore developed a software prototype that could help astronauts do their own ultrasound using artificial intelligence and an augmented reality interface. We tested it, even though we are not doctors, we don’t know how to do ultrasound, and that was a really interesting experience.
Why did you decide to carry out this simulation?
It seemed pretty obvious to me as someone who is passionate about space exploration and space in general. This was the opportunity we were offered in our first year and I told myself that it was exactly the kind of experience I wanted to have to immerse myself in this environment. Not only for the mission part and feeling a bit like an astronaut, but also for the entire preparation part, which lasts more than a year. There, we were confronted with the space environment, we were able to interact with researchers, people with positions of responsibility who taught us a lot of things. We were able to attend conferences. It was really for the things I was going to learn and the people I was going to meet that I decided to carry out this mission, I knew it was going to be exciting.
What did you take away from this experience?
It ended almost two weeks ago now, we’re losing track of time a little, it’s quite strange. In my crew, we don’t realize yet, it’s quite difficult to realize what we’ve been through. I would say that in terms of scientific content, I am very proud of what we managed to do. From a personal point of view, I would say that we have created an extremely close-knit crew, it has become more than friends, more than collaborators, more than comrades, it is something even stronger. These are bonds that have become unbreakable.
I would say that, for us, it was an experience that allowed us, on our small scale as students, to be able to contribute to an ecosystem and a world that seems quite inaccessible. This allowed us to take a step into this environment and contribute on our scale. It was something very powerful for us to be able to say that we could start to contribute something.
The future of Marie Delaroche after ISAE-Supaero
What awaits you now?
I have just started a gap year to be able to do internships and have professional experience, before finishing my studies. Currently, I am doing an internship in an environment that has nothing to do with space, to discover another universe. But, in the second part of the gap year, I really want to do an internship in a space agency, perhaps CNES or ESA if possible.
The MDRS mission continues every year at ISAE-SUPAERO. They’re going to need a commander. It’s still too early to plan, but it’s something I’m thinking about and I’m saying to myself: why not go again next year.
