January 28th 2025 | The Hypatia Mars association presents the second Martian analog mission, set to take place from February 2nd to 15th at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the Utah desert, United States. A new all-female crew of scientists spanning different ages and disciplines will live in isolationduring the mission, coinciding with the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
The Hypatia II mission will study the female body under simulation conditions, as the female crew replicates a human mission to Mars over two weeks. Human factors to be investigated include menstruation, nutrition, physical activity, circadian sleep rhythms, and other stress-related biological variables, such as heart rate, body temperature, and blood oxygen levels, among others.
Currently, only 1 out of 10 astronauts are women. The lack of female astronauts has led to a significant data gap concerning space missions. One of the primary objectives of the Hypatia II mission is to enhance our understanding of the effects that a space mission could have on the female body, particularly during the long interplanetary journey. The research is being conducted in collaboration with leading hospitals and research institutes in Catalonia, including the Sant Pau Research Institute, Sant Pau Hospital, the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), and Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital in Badalona.
«At Hypatia, we advocate for more inclusive and diverse science that highlights the contributions of women in research, particularly in the field of space exploration,» explains mathematician Ariadna Farrés Basiana, commander of the Hypatia II mission and researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Hypatia leads more than 15 research and outreach projects
The Hypatia II crew will conduct experiments and test equipment to assess the feasibility of a future mission to Mars, which will take place under isolated conditions with limited access to food, water, and communication with Earth, in an environment designed to mimic the terrain and conditions of the red planet. The mission involves a collaborative effort with more than 20 research institutions, universities, companies, and schools worldwide.
The European Space Agency is funding one of the satellite calibration projects. During extravehicular activities outside the MDRS, the Hypatia II crew will install a trihedral reflector in the Utah desert. This will enable satellites to position themselves accurately and measure terrain elevation, a technology already used to map oceans and glaciers.
Sustainability is another key priority for Hypatia II. One of the scientific projects will test solutions to improve the energy efficiency of solar panels. The aim is to prevent the photovoltaic installation from losing performance due to the accumulation of Martian dust on its surface, which could endanger the astronauts’ lives. In terms of outreach, another project will design a virtual tour of the MDRS to showcase sustainable and circular economy practices implemented by the crew, inspiring solutions on Earth.
For the first time, a Hypatia mission includes a geologist in the crew. One of the challenges of space exploration is collecting samples from extraterrestrial bodies, such as the Moon, for subsequent analysis on Earth. This project seeks to optimize rock analysis using an X-ray fluorescence gun, among other instrumentation.