Student-led analog astronaut campaigns prep for lunar exploration from lava fields to Antarctic
MV Ugly Betty, the 86-foot Functional Power Boat that hosted onboard science for 7000 nautical miles, at anchor in the Chilean Antarctic.
The Artemis missions will return human beings to the surface of the moon for the first time in over 50 years. This next generation of lunar exploration demands novel operational strategies and will see the integration of countless new technologies. The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa student-led MAHINA (Multi-phase Artemis Era Human Investigations in Natural Analogs) project recently successfully completed two notable field campaigns aimed at supporting and advancing future astronaut teams in their missions on the Moon.
The MAHINA project was developed in 2025 through the Human Spaceflight Program which is administered by the Hawai’i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and offers undergraduate minors.
“We’re conducting research using environments on Earth which are analogous to those encountered during planetary surface operations to simulate lunar mission activities—all with the goal of maintaining crew performance and preventing cognitive overload,” said Aláine Lee, UH Mānoa undergraduate student majoring in physics with a minor in human spaceflight who developed the MAHINA project and has been leading this research for over a year, and serving as project manager.
Testing mission control design and sampling tech on a lava field
In the fall of 2025, in collaboration with HIGP professors Peter Englert and Paul Lucey, MAHINA project students conducted a field campaign on a Hawaiian lava field site to test the use of thermal hyperspectral imagery in assisting astronauts in recovering geological samples. This type of imaging combines remotely-sensed heat and light data to identify mineral composition and monitor land surface properties.
For their simulated missions the MAHINA team designs operations similar to those proposed for the Artemis missions where astronauts will be working outside the space vehicle, on the lunar surface. The objective of their mission was to have analog astronauts scan the surface with thermal hyperspectral imaging sensors; interface with a Science Evaluation Room at Mission Control, which would receive and interpret the imaging data; and recover geologically interesting samples. The team used a lightweight hyperspectral imager developed by Spectrum Photonics, and partnered closely with Spectrum’s engineers during mission operations.
“We successfully demonstrated that processed thermal hyperspectral data could be used to direct the analog astronauts on which samples to recover,” Lee explained. “In addition to this we demonstrated the use of a Science Evaluation Room, where real-time analysis is carried out by supporting scientists and engineers and the results are relayed to the analog astronaut field team to direct sampling activity. Both deploying instrumentation and using real-time data analysis from the field within the mission control structure are novel lunar surface exploration techniques.”
Assessing cognitive load on an 7,000 mile ocean voyage
In March 2026, Lee completed a 7,000 nautical mile open-ocean field campaign from the Chilean Antarctic Territory to Mexico aboard an 86-foot research vessel led by Professor Leonid Moroz at the University of Florida. The campaign unearthed several new species and recovered samples that can be used for genomic sequencing.
Lee received university approval to conduct research using a wearable functional near-infrared spectroscopy device developed by the French startup Semaxone. Previously deployed to monitor fighter pilots, the device was used to assess the cognitive and physical performance of a research vessel crew in the isolated conditions experienced during the passage. On the ship, the team was operating in remote, logistically constrained conditions analogous to human spaceflight, providing a compelling natural testbed.
Understanding how humans perform and adapt to these conditions can assist in designing future missions. Unlike traditional self-reporting—which is often unreliable in high-stakes fields like aviation and spaceflight due to performance pressure—this non-invasive tool provided objective, real-time data on workload, fatigue, and stress without disrupting routine duties.
“By simulating missions and gathering quantitative performance data in an analog environment, our project provides critical insights for understanding human performance,” Lee explained. “Ultimately, these findings help mitigate risks like cognitive overload and destigmatize performance monitoring, allowing us to place astronaut wellbeing at the forefront of future mission design.”
Human Spaceflight at the University of Hawai‘i
The Human Spaceflight and Earth and Planetary Exploration Technology programs have created a vibrant research environment for undergraduate students. “Our ethos is to provide project based education with a strong emphasis on real professional experience and multidisciplinary frameworks,” explained Peter Englert EPET program chair. “We want to serve the human spaceflight community by producing talented scientists and engineers with broad perspectives.”
For graduate Kate Macaulay, serving as the MAHINA mission’s integration and test engineer was a formative experience, “It gave me the opportunity to grow not only as an engineer but also as a leader and teammate. The program created an environment where I felt encouraged to step into leadership roles with confidence, and it reinforced how important teamwork, adaptability, and trust are in the success of any mission.”
In Hawaiʻi’s classrooms and lavafields alike, the next chapter of human spaceflight is already being written, as projects like MAHINA and the Human Spaceflight Program help prepare the people who will shape humanity’s return to the Moon—and its future beyond.
Read also on UH News.