NASA has planned to send humans to deep space, but its astronauts are heading to the ocean floor. As per the space agency, it is sending a team of astronauts and scientists to deep ocean regions to experience Mars-like environment conditions.

This deep-sea diving is a part of NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations 21, or NEEMO, expedition. It is a 16-day mission under which, the crew members will visit a region over 60 feet below sea level. According to NASA, NEEMO mission may help astronauts deal with situations that they may face during journey to Mars and other deep-space missions.

Deep-space missions are going to be difficult ones for astronauts. They may experience problems like failure of equipments, communication problem or task talking longer time. Before embarking on such a space mission, they must be prepared to face those challenges, said Bill Todd, lead researcher in the NEEMO mission.

“It’s how we learn and how we are able to assemble all of this together so that someday we’re prepared for the unexpected when we are living on and traversing the Martian surface”, Todd added in a statement.

The NEEMO mission offers spacecraft-like conditions to astronauts, who will perform testing on new software and technologies. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman will lead the first half of the expedition, while second half will be headed by NASA astronaut Megan McArthur.

Earlier, NASA revealed its plan on manned mission to the Red Planet. According to it, the crewed mission may takeoff sometime in the 2030s. Before launching a manned Mars mission, NASA has been sending a new rover to Mars in 2020. As per the space agency, the rover will be successor to Curiosity and hunt for signs of life on Mars in the past. The rover will also have an instrument that is capable of converting Martian CO2 into oxygen.

According to a report in CSMonitor by Joseph Dussault, "On Thursday, NASA sent a team of astronauts and scientists more than 60 feet below sea level for a 16-day underwater expedition. NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 21, or NEEMO, is designed to simulate scenarios that may arise in future Mars missions."

“Equipment can fail, communication can be challenging, and tasks can take longer than expected. Other tasks go just as planned. All cases are equally beneficial,” NEEMO Project Lead Bill Todd said in a statement. “It’s how we learn and how we are able to assemble all of this together so that someday we’re prepared for the unexpected when we are living on and traversing the Martian surface.”

The first half of the NEEMO mission will be led by NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, an ISS veteran who was a naval aviator and test pilot before joining the agency. The second half of the expedition will be led by NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, a PhD oceanographer who was also involved in the 2009 STS-125 shuttle mission.

A report published in Tech Times revealed, "According to NASA, the NEEMO undersea crew will carry out research both inside and outside the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary during the simulated space mission. Aquanauts will perform simulated spacewalks underwater while evaluating mission tools and techniques."

Aquanauts will gather samples for geology and marine biology research, test software for operations and participate in a project focused on coral restoration. Throughout these tasks, the crew will also analyze potential communications delays — those that would be encountered by scientists on a journey to Mars.

In 2009, McArthur flew on the STS-125 mission and served as Mission Control spacecraft communicator for space station and space shuttle missions. Before joining the space agency, McArthur worked on her doctorate in oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.