Isn't this essentially what the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is doing? Albeit they're only isolated for 9 months at a time, not years, but still:
1. They have a small group of 50 people. Issues with crew psychology and relationships are mostly covered.
2. They live entirely indoors in small, manmade habitats. They're actually under the snow in much the same way that Martian hab units would be under regolith.
3. They are autonomous. It's completely up to them to survive the winter.
Yes, they're not doing the full biosphere thing - they're surviving on rations brought in by airplane, and breathing the outside air after just heating it - but that's pretty close.
I also think of people on strategic submarine ballistic missile nuclear boomers. They're shockingly big boats, but the crews are in a limited space with a limited air supply and no views of the outside for 70 days at a time. I would be unsurprised if the public information on their maximum deployment times for crews (said to rotate out every 10 weeks) has been exceeded, and I'm sure the navy has studies on it. Also living off rations, but similar.
It's probably more conceivable and informative to try to grow rations in a lab using the constraints that would be placed on martian astronauts than to convince a crew to do the Amundsen-Scott experience or SSBN experience, but with also growing your own food.
Though I imagine after 8 months of Antarctic winter, a salad would sound pretty good...
I wonder how well the South Pole station would do if they got a only very limited supplies to start with, had to wear pressure suits outside, couldn't afford any air leaks and didn't get supplies for several years.
I'm not sure who down-voted you, but it's an interesting question. However, the South Pole station afaik isn't equipped with the means necessary for self-sustainability, such as being able to recycle bio material. Anyone with more info on this?
1. They have a small group of 50 people. Issues with crew psychology and relationships are mostly covered.
2. They live entirely indoors in small, manmade habitats. They're actually under the snow in much the same way that Martian hab units would be under regolith.
3. They are autonomous. It's completely up to them to survive the winter.
Yes, they're not doing the full biosphere thing - they're surviving on rations brought in by airplane, and breathing the outside air after just heating it - but that's pretty close.
I also think of people on strategic submarine ballistic missile nuclear boomers. They're shockingly big boats, but the crews are in a limited space with a limited air supply and no views of the outside for 70 days at a time. I would be unsurprised if the public information on their maximum deployment times for crews (said to rotate out every 10 weeks) has been exceeded, and I'm sure the navy has studies on it. Also living off rations, but similar.
It's probably more conceivable and informative to try to grow rations in a lab using the constraints that would be placed on martian astronauts than to convince a crew to do the Amundsen-Scott experience or SSBN experience, but with also growing your own food.
Though I imagine after 8 months of Antarctic winter, a salad would sound pretty good...