Chile will ask the US space agency NASA for help in the effort to keep alive 33 miners trapped 700 metres underground in the Atacama Desert, dpa quoted the Chilean Health Ministry as saying Monday. Chilean authorities, who expect to take three to four months to bring the trapped miners back to the surface, want to have access to technology that would allow them to keep the workers healthy in a small space, with only a limited supply of food. Chilean officials said conditions inside the mine are not dissimilar to those faced by submarine crews and by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The priority is to get state-of-the-art foodstuffs developed for such conditions. For now, Chilean authorities are focussed on rehydrating the miners, who have been trapped underground since August 5.
