Our colleague Dr. Sydney Dolan in the analog astronaut Mars Mission

Postdoctoral Research associate Sydney Dolan served as Crew Engineer on Crew 323 at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), the world’s largest and longest-running Mars surface simulation facility operated by The Mars Society. During the mission, Dolan and their international team lived in and worked under conditions closely replicating a Mars astronaut’s daily schedule and environment, including limited resources, strict routines, and infrequent communication with Earth and mission control. As part of a larger series of studies conducted by the University of Colorado Boulder, the crew carried out extra-vehicular activities designed to help researchers study decision-making and teamwork in isolated, confined, and extreme environments. Sydney participated in a secondary research effort examining ultrasound technology training for astronauts on long-duration missions, as ultrasound is particularly valuable in space due to its compact size and weight. As part of this work, Sydney performed self-examinations to capture the apical four-chamber view of the heart. Both the training process and the resulting recordings will contribute to ongoing research aimed at improving medical capabilities for future space missions. A TUM profile interviewing Sydney and their experience can be found here: Mars on Earth - On an analog Mars Mission