By Charlene Tebbutt

From Prince Albert to the red planet

May 12, 2018 | 8:00 AM

It’s a long way from Prince Albert, but closer than the real thing, and a local doctor has recently returned from Utah, where she used her skills in medicine to learn about life on Mars.

Shawna Pandya is originally from Sherwood Park, Alberta, but has been working in Prince Albert, participating in a one-year residency program in enhanced surgical skills. On the side, she’s a citizen scientist with a long-time interest in space, working with two organizations to study the atmosphere and microgravity.

Pandya recently returned from the Mars Desert Research Society, where she took part in Project PHEnOM, a two-year training program that included land and sea survival training and an analog mission to a simulated Mars environment.

Pandya was part of a crew of five people who took part in the simulation, carting in water, growing their own produce in a greenhouse and working together to conserve resources.

“It’s pretty realistic. You’re living in a tin can with four other crew mates for two weeks, you’re doing experiments. Anytime you want to suit up to go outside, you’re on an EVA or extracurricular vehicular activity, you have to go in your space suit because you’re simulating that you’re in the Martian atmosphere, so to go outside without protection would kill you,” she said.

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“You do have the isolation. you have this very rocky red terrain. It’s red as far as the eye can see… It really tested our limits, but I think we all came out wanting to do more in the future.”

Pandya has a Masters in Space Studies from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France and participated in previous internships at the European Astronaut Centre, the European Space Agency and NASA’s Johnson Space Centre. Pandya has an interest in psychological resilience and used her time in Utah to conduct her own studies into the subject as well, along with research into crew health, safety and comfort.

She says her work as a citizen scientist often applies to her work in medicine.

“What a citizen scientist is someone who’s maybe not academically formally trained in a certain area, but who has a competence and passion for the area nonetheless,” Pandya told paNOW.

Pandya will wrap up her residency in Prince Albert toward the end of the summer. Then she’s hoping to head to Ottawa in the fall to test commercial space suits, followed by more citizen scientist projects in Chile.

Asked if she would like to visit the real red planet one day, Pandya said she is definitely interested.

“If I was confident in the mission, the safety of the missions and science objectives, 100 per cent,” Pandya said.

But, there are a few things she won’t be excited to do again.

“I won’t be wanting to see dehydrated broccoli for a while.”

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt