What an honor was for us to speak to Lt. Anca Șelariu from the Battlefield Health and Trauma Research Institute. Lt. Șelariu is a microbiologist assigned to NAMRU, San Antonio, USA, and was part of a four-person crew that took part in NASA’s inaugural Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog’s (CHAPEA) mission from June 25, 2023, to July 6, 2024.
The CHAPEA missions, consisting of simulated expeditions to the surface of Mars, aim to collect critical data which will inform future human expeditions to space.
Lt. Șelariu, a native of Romania, brought expertise in vaccines, prion transmission, gene therapy, and infectious disease research to the CHAPEA mission. She exclusively shared with Surse și Resurse some of her experiences as part of the CHAPEA crew, such as not having access to the Internet.
According toȘelariu, many have taken instant access to information for granted, and this makes for an interesting case study to ascertain how can science be conducted in austere or deployed environments where the internet or satellite communications are nonexistent or disrupted.
Additionally, she spoke highly of her fellow crew members who lived with her for 378 days in Mars Dune Alpha, a 3D 1,700 square foot printed structure located at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NAMRU San Antonio is one of the leading research and development laboratories for the U.S. Navy under the Department of Defense (DoD) and is one of eight subordinate research commands in the global network of laboratories operating under the Naval Medical Research Command in Silver Spring, Md.
Its mission is to conduct gap-driven combat casualty care, craniofacial, and directed energy research to improve the survival, operational readiness, and safety of DoD personnel engaged in routine and expeditionary operations.
More about Lt.Șelariu’s experience in the following interview.
Surse și Resurse: Dear Lt. Șelariu, Ma’am: – as a microbiologist assigned to NAMRU San Antonio, you were a part of the four-person crew that took part in NASA’s inaugural Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog’s (CHAPEA) mission from June 25, 2023, to July 6, 2024. One of the challenges met during your mission (of course!) was not having access to the Internet. I remember the ordeal Mark Watney’s movie character had to go through trying to stay alive and find solutions to communicate to Earth and flee Mars. Have you faced difficult situations during your CHAPEA mission that needed time-sensitive decisions?
Lt. Anca Șelariu: This is a very interesting question because most modern humans have very little experience nowadays with no Internet access for such extended periods. For me, it was fascinating to experience it first-hand. Indeed, we sometimes needed to make time-sensitive decisions autonomously, and the crew managed it very well since we were trained to expect it. We had a special type of e-mail through NASA ground support, that was made to mimic the constraints and delays expected for Mars communications. It was much more difficult for our friends on “Earth” to understand that we really could not click on links, log into online accounts, receive large files, or have live conversations with anyone outside of our habitat. This revealed to me how biased we are towards brief, instant communications; and how much it affects our everyday lives and informs our behaviors and relationships.
Surse și Resurse: You spent 378 days in Mars Dune Alpha, a 3D 1,700 square foot printed structure located at Johnson Space Center in Houston. You and your CHAPEA colleagues were a four-person volunteer crew. This mission was the closest to the real thing. Besides your daily research routine, you’ve had to face delicate interpersonal and delicate individual situations (communication delays with “Earth”, including your families; isolation and confinement). Were there difficult turning points? How did all of you manage to go above and manage to keep the team strong?
Lt. Anca Șelariu: As is the case in any community, having deep respect and appreciation for one another as the baseline is crucial in maintaining a strong, healthy team. We not only cared for one another, but we all believed in the importance of the mission for NASA in promoting science for space and inspiring humanity. To me, it was remarkable (though not surprising) how four people from very different backgrounds came together as a harmonious unit. We enjoyed each other’s company whether it was a Mars walk or a fun recreation activity, and this was important for mission success. This is also something that I appreciate about the Navy, the strong connection and dedication to service that brings people together to create an extraordinary force.
Surse și Resurse: Can you please describe the feeling of the “Marswalk”? Besides rovers, humans will be the first living things walking, working, and living on the Red Planet.
Lt. Anca Șelariu: Whenever I imagine the idea of that first footstep on Mars, I get a little misty-eyed. I very much look forward to seeing it happen soon. It may be that humans are somehow drawn to explore and push ever further into the unknown. It is a powerful instinct that fuels our imagination and fills us with awe. Imagine walking on that red dust, knowing that there is absolutely nothing familiar there and that everything and everyone you know is 225 million km away. I think in those moments you feel alive in its purest form, isolated from anything else that is alive or friendly to life, faced with the stark reality that your survival depends exclusively on your crew, your combined skills, and the marvels of engineering – products of centuries of brilliant minds – that enabled your journey there.
Surse și Resurse: You brought to the CHAPEA mission your expertise in vaccines, gene therapy, and infectious disease, skills that will be essential to maintaining the health of astronauts on a minimum seven-to-nine-month journey from medical facilities on Earth. Was your mission strictly dedicated to specialized research or you faced also situations that needed your expertise during this mission? Of course, any detail that can be publicly shown would be appreciated.
Lt. Anca Șelariu: The first Mars crew will have to conduct many types of experiments to answer questions about the planet’s history and potential to sustain a human presence. Science activities in CHAPEA were planned to mimic activities likely to be conducted during a Mars surface mission. They covered a wide range of topics, including spacewalks, robotic operations, science equipment operations and maintenance, crop growth, geology, and surface explorations. Since all crew members had expertise in a wide range of STEM fields, it was wonderful to complement each other and work as a team to complete science objectives.
Surse și Resurse: Please tell us a little bit of yourself. How did you start your career in the U.S. Navy?
Lt. Anca Șelariu: I grew up under an autocratic regime and learned early the true cost of freedom of speech and intellectual pursuits. I wanted to support those who protect these values. Navy Medicine has had an enormous role throughout history in supporting the military, strengthening peace, and promoting health security not only for the US but also for allies and partner nations globally, and I am honored to serve.
Surse și Resurse: You have in-depth expertise in vaccines, prion transmission, gene therapy, and infectious disease research. As a civilian, I have always imagined movie-like sets where you handle life-threatening viruses and strings, fight deadly diseases, and… save the world. Was COVID-19 a challenge for you and your colleagues? What should be the mindset of an expert such as yourself during an off-world mission that had to face life-threatening situations like a COVID-19 infection?
Lt. Anca Șelariu: That is an interesting way of imagining scientists. In my experience, scientists are simply curious and passionate people who are not easily discouraged in their pursuit to understand the true nature of reality and share their knowledge with the rest of the world. Scientists understand that the truth is a journey of discovery, an incremental and tedious process that adds tiny new pieces to the big picture. It takes enormous focus because our ideas form as we grow and interact with our cultural environment. Our brains are excellent at sorting out the massive amount of information we receive into what is either sensational or personally relatable, which can sometimes cloud our judgment or distract us. Even our educational background can sometimes hinder our ability to see problems we do not normally encounter in our field, which is why integrative approaches and open minds are essential in addressing complex problems. Being alive in extreme or isolated environments requires enormous effort, and the threat of an infection is just one of many potential issues, but it helps when you are aware and reasonably well-prepared. This is why it is vital to look at human health and performance in simulated environments under controlled conditions to understand how stress, workload, nutritional constraints, exercise, and so forth will affect immune system health and cognitive performance.
Surse și Resurse: Can you tell us a little bit about your idea of an ergonomic habitat for far-future humanity, both on and above Earth?
Lt. Anca Șelariu: This is a critical question, and answering it needs careful scrutiny. I generally prefer to frame it from a macro-evolutionary perspective. In this view, humans are a very recent addition to a living ecosystem that has kept itself alive for about 3.8 billion years, of which only a fraction
was even multicellular. This planetary-scale living body has been resilient and resourceful when faced with extreme challenges. It constantly experimented and found incredibly creative solutions throughout, with little regard for strict rules, except for the laws of physics. In my view, designing any sustainable habitat should put life thus defined front and center, with humans as a small part of it, but also protectors of it. Therefore, designing an ergonomic habitat for far futures requires a mindset shift, from acting for the profit of a single species (humans) to the benefit of Life as a self-sustaining interplanetary phenomenon, in which humans thrive as well. I think that Martians may have a better chance of making it long-term in a self-sustaining living ecosystem than on an industrial site maintained by technology alone.
Surse și Resurse: Speaking of future experts, would you be so kind as to address young people interested in delicate research areas like the one you’re working on? Your road to success can be an example – chemistry high school, biochemistry, Visa Lottery, and the American Dream. Why is your job so important?
Lt. Anca Șelariu: The first objective is to define what success should look like. For me, success never meant power, money, status, or renown. It simply meant being free to explore, being allowed and encouraged to be curious, even if that meant challenging the status quo or venturing into unknown territory. It meant having respect, listening, learning from everyone and every source, and trying to be a positive influence on fellow humans. Today, people are faced with a more connected and complex world that is changing faster than that of their parents. There is no shortage of problems that young citizens need to address, but it is equally important that all disciplines connect to find solutions: politics, ecology, economics, sociology, mathematics, arts, philosophy, and everything in between. I think humans of every nation can embrace their full range and diversity of thought to inspire and empower each other to be the best they can be, for themselves and our one-of-a-kind home planet.
