Rand Simberg discusses the potential health hazards involved in a human pregnancy and birth in an environment at a fraction of earth’s gravity such as the 0.38g on Mars : The Bioethics of Mars One – PJ Media.
Before permanent settlements are the Moon and Mars are viable, he points to the need for a G-Lab orbital facility, which would use spin gravity to study the effects of fractional gravity on lab animals.
The NASA funded project HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) is investigating human factor challenges for a Mars mission. They are starting with a four-month simulated mission with 6 non-astronaut “crew members” in a dome near Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano. One of the issues that will focus on is food, in particular those foods that can be stored for long voyages but are still tasty : Aloha, Mars! What we’ll eat, wear and play with to ease boredom in space – Cosmic Log
Here is a video from earlier this year when the project participants carried out a short term simulation at the Mars Society‘s Mars Desert Research Station in Utah:
The latest presentation to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) study group is now posted in the FISO Working Group Presentations Archive. Both slides (pdf) and audio (mp3) are available for the talk, Environmental Control and Life Support Systems: Current Status and Future Development, Robert Bagdigian & Robyn Carrasquillo – NASA MSFC – May.22.2013.
The Russian Bion M1, launched on April 19, 2013 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and returned on May 19th. The biology mission appears to have been a mixed success:
More background info about the project:
Mars One is having no trouble attracting applications for their plan to establish a settlement on the Red Planet. Three applicants explain why they would consider going to Mars even if there will be no chance of returning to earth: Why sign up for a one-way Mars trip? Three applicants explain the appeal – Cosmic Log.