NASA Delegation Reaches Collapsed Chilean Mine on Aug. 31 Photo Credit/U. S. Embassy, Santiago, Chile
Thirty-three miners trapped in a collapsed Chilean gold and copper mine as well as the families who await their rescue face a long and difficult ordeal, according to a small delegation of NASA experts in health, psychology and engineering who responded to a call for assistance made through the U. S. State Department.
The San Jose mine near Copiapo in northern Chile collapsed on Aug. 5.
It was more than two weeks before rescue teams assembled by Chile’s ministries of mining and health learned the men were still alive but trapped in a 600 square foot chamber 2,300 feet below ground.
“There will be challenges ahead,” said Dr. Al Holland, a NASA psychologist with expertise in human isolation like that experienced by astronauts assigned to six-month missions aboard the International Space Station or scientists who take on long research projects in Antarctica.
“They are just now entering a period of the long run,” said Holland, who joined his colleagues for a NASA news briefing in Houston that followed the delegation’s six-day trip to the mine. “They are just beginning to confront some of the issues they will have as far as being there for the long haul.”
Rescuers are attempting to reach the miners by drilling three 26-inch wide shafts through layers of rock. It could take two to four months to reach the miners, according to Chilean estimates.
It’s almost as though the miners were stranded on a space station or a lunar outpost.
“I think there are a lot of parallels,” said Dr. Michael Duncan, who led the NASA delegation to Chile as the Johnson Space Center’s deputy chief medical officer.
The loss of the shuttle Columbia in 2003 prompted NASA to plan rescue flights for the shuttle astronauts it launches to the space station.
But there are significant differences. The miners were not screened for their physical and mental health qualifications as are NASA’s astronauts. Many of the miners took with them worrisome health problems like diabetes and high blood pressure. Most smoke.
Until their discovery, the trapped miners shared a small store of food and water. They were dehydrated and experiencing muscle wasting as their bodies struggled to hang on, according to Duncan.
Conditions have improved. Rescuers are lowering food, water, medications and other supplies to the men through the narrow shafts that were drilled to find the men. They speak regularly with family members.
The miners themselves have organized their living space into areas for sleeping, food preparation, hygiene and exercise. They’ve assigned themselves duties, including the maintenance of the mine and underground equipment as well as preparations for their rescue.
Though the NASA delegation returned to the U. S. on Sunday, they left phone and e-mail contact information with their Chilean hosts. And they returned with an assignment, help with the design of a device to raise the weary miners one-by-one once they are reached by the drilling rigs.
Each ascent will likely take two hours, raising concerns about whether there will be sufficient air and water. The men must stand erect through the process as well, and if they faint or lower their heads, their hearts could become stressed.
“They have some unique requirements,” said Dr. J. D. Polk, chief of the space medicine division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and a specialist in emergency medicine. “We are looking at those.”