Sara Paule, Earlham College’s director of grants and sponsored research, took her fascination with the cosmos to a new level by becoming a crew member on the Mars Desert Research Station.
As a child, Sara Paule was captivated by space travel and the trailblazers who were brave enough to voyage to the unknown. She considers the autobiography of Colonel Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian astronaut to perform extravehicular activity in outer space, inspirational reading.
“I’m the kind of person who likes experimenting, but I don’t engage in what I’d call high-risk behavior,” said Paule, Earlham’s director of grants and sponsored research. “I never seriously thought about becoming an astronaut, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve remained interested in space.”
While Paule may never board a rocket ship bound for the cosmos, she knows a thing or two about life on an extraterrestrial planet. Paule was recently selected by Purdue University to inhabit the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in a remote enclave of southern Utah. The station, which is owned and operated by the Mars Society, is surrounded by terrain with an uncanny resemblance to the Red Planet. The facility serves as a hub for research into numerous aspects of what it will be like for humans to live and work on Mars.
“I’m a scientist at heart and this was an amazingly, insane experience in that regard,” said Paule, who earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry from Oberlin College and is a current student in Purdue’s online Master of Science in Communication program.
“This was a great way for me to learn new skills and build on my chemistry background, my grant writing experiences at Earlham, my future communications degree and my interest in space all at the same time.”
“I’m a scientist at heart and this was an amazingly, insane experience in that regard. This was a great way for me to learn new skills and build on my chemistry background, my grant writing experiences at Earlham, my future communications degree and my interest in space all at the same time.”
Sara Paule, director of grants and sponsored research
Paule served as the crew journalist and executive officer for the nearly two-week mission from December 24 to January 6, one of two missions occupied by Purdue scientists and students during the station’s current research cycle. She is the first online student from Purdue and the first from the university’s School of Communication selected as a crew member, university officials say.
One of seven crew members on the expedition, Paule was tasked with chronicling daily life at the station and assisting the mission commander with logistics, plus sharing chores such as cooking and cleaning. She also conducted two self-designed research projects – one on the elements of effective communication on a tight deadline and a second discerning what the ideal characteristics are for astronauts or colonists who might voyage to Mars.
“There doesn’t appear to be a lot of external data or research on this topic,” Paule said. “I wanted to investigate what an ideal skillset might be for people who volunteer for these kinds of experiences in the future.
“What are the necessary skills you think you will need? Which skills are used during the mission? How do participants rate the importance of various skills before and after the mission?” she said. “Data analysis is something I’m going to continue working on post-mission.”
The MDRS experience is meant to simulate living on Mars. In addition to the isolation and distinctive terrain surrounding the research station, crew members are given a limited window to communicate with the outside world each day — similar to that of an astronaut. Water is also limited at the research station and the crew must prepare meals largely from dehydrated food sources. To simulate a lack of atmosphere, leaving the station is prohibited — unless crew members where a spacesuit and have been cleared for a well-planned mission to conduct research.
“My day-to-day life is full of stress, so while I was at the Mars Desert Research Station, it was really nice to just narrow the scope of my care to the six people who were in my crew and what I needed to do on the day-to-day,” Paule said. “It was freeing in ways I didn’t expect. Coming back to Indiana has been a bit of an adjustment because there are so many more expectations.”
While space travel is still far from Paule’s future ambitions, her eyes are more open to new experiences.
“I realized I could do almost anything for two weeks and that there was room in my life for taking risks and trying new things,” Paule said. “I am a working adult with different demands on my time, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t make space in my life for these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and see more of the world.”
Story written by Brian Zimmerman. Photos courtesy of Sara Paule.