 Six people have been chosen for an eight month mission to Mars without actually leaving Earth. So who are these six people? Why were they chosen and what will they be doing during their eight month mission? This is your space pod for January 18th 2017. High seas or the Hawaiian Space Exploration Analog and Simulation is a simulated mission to Mars. Other space analogs exist like MDRS, the Mars Desert Research Station, HERA, the Human Exploration Research Analog, and PMAS, the Poland Mars Analog Simulation. Analog missions keep as many of the mission details as realistic as possible to help plan activities, test equipment and operations, and observe crew relationship dynamics without actually having to go to space. High seas is primarily funded by NASA and operated by the University of Hawaii. The six crew members will live in a dome on the side of Mauna Loa, a volcano on the big island of Hawaii. The geodesic dome is 11 meters in diameter and has a volume of 384 cubic meters. The ground floor has an area of 92 square meters of which 81 and a half square meters are usable and includes common areas such as a kitchen, dining, bathroom with a shower, a gym and a laboratory. The second floor loft spans an area of 39.4 square meters and includes six individual bedrooms and a toilet. In addition, a workshop converted from an old shipping container is attached to the side of the habitat giving an extra 15 square meters of space. This mission will specifically focus on psychological and psychosocial factors that could be used to compose a highly efficient crew for autonomous long duration and long distance exploration missions. This crew will have little freedom in their daily routine towards the beginning and the end of their mission, but will have a lot more autonomy in the middle. Each crew member will also have a personal project that they will work on during the mission, but the details of these projects are yet to be released. Crew members can also go on EVA or extravehicular activities or space walks and have to wear modified hazmat suits when they go outside. The crew will be quite busy but they'll also have to deal with a 20 minute communication delay with mission control and the isolation that comes with living on the side of a mountain. So who are the six crew members of high seas mission five? Ainsley Bernard is an engineer who has worked with both NASA and Boeing on advanced composite structures. She is interested in sustainable lifestyles and waste reduction. Samuel Paylor is a doctoral candidate in astrobiology. He has studied life in super salty environments deep underground and has been involved with other Mars analog missions like basalt, the biologic analog science associated with lava terrains mission. James Bevington is a freelance researcher who holds a masters from international space university. He is currently developing biomanufacturing capabilities for crewed Mars missions and investigating microorganisms as the source of methane on Mars. Joshua Ehrlich is a systems engineer working for Lockheed Martin on the Orion European service module. He previously worked on Falcon 9 integration and testing and on the veggie plant growth system for the ISS. Laura Lark is a software engineer with experience at Google and flies planes in her spare time. Brian Ramos is a biomedical and electrical engineer with a master's degree from international space university. He has repaired medical equipment in Rwanda in Nicaragua and enjoys scuba diving and martial arts. So what do you think about the crew and who would you choose for a simulated mission to Mars? Let me know in the comments below or via social media. Thank you for watching and thank you so much to our generous crowdfunding supporters, our patreon patrons for giving so generously to make these space pods happen. In fact, I'm so truly humbled that each week the number of supporters keeps on increasing, so much in fact that we've had to split your names over multiple name slates. Thank you so much and if you'd like to contribute to the crowdfunding of this show, head over to patreon.com slash space pod. My name is Lisa Stodzianowski and until next time, keep on discovering.