If you’ve ever wanted to know what it’s like to live on Mars, NASA may have the perfect opportunity for you.
The space agency is looking for four volunteers for a simulated Mars experiment – but it’s not for the faint of heart.
Volunteers will be confined for more than 12 months in Mars Dune Alpha, a 1,700-square-foot 3D-printed structure at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
There they will perform simulated spacewalks and provide data on their “physical and behavioral health” as they battle extreme isolation and separation from loved ones.
The futuristic building is intended to replicate the kind of structure humans will eventually build when they finally arrive on Mars.
For 12 months, volunteers will live in a building intended to mimic the kind of structure humans will eventually build on Mars
The experiment – called Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) – will start next year after a 13-month selection process.
This will be the second batch of volunteers for the CHAPEA program, following the first batch that began their stay in June 2023.
Each participant is reportedly paid $10 for every waking hour at the base – which amounts to approximately $60,000.
“The analog mission will be as Mars-realistic as possible, and may also include environmental stressors such as limited resources, isolation, equipment failure and significant workloads,” NASA said.
“The crew’s main activities during the analogy may include simulated spacewalks, including virtual reality, communications, crop growth, meal preparation and consumption, exercise, hygiene activities, maintenance work, personal time, scientific work and sleep.”
Mars Dune Alpha is built with a proprietary concrete mix called ‘lavacrete’, which is applied in layers to create a ribbed effect on the walls.
Although residents are isolated and cannot leave except in the event of a medical emergency, the temporary home does have basic amenities such as a kitchen and two bathrooms, a shower and toilets, as well as a recreation room complete with leather sofas and a television. .
However, there are no windows to let in sunlight, so residents are given vitamin D supplements.
A view of the 3D-printed CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) habitat located at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, complete with ‘outside’ Martian sand
The walls of the Martian habitat are built with a proprietary mix of concrete called ‘lavacrete’. It includes basic amenities such as a kitchen (photo)
Life in Mars Dune Alpha will resemble the expected experience for those living in a future habitat on the surface of Mars. The layout of the 3D printed habitat is designed in such a way that there are separate spaces within the habitat for living and working
The Mars Dune Alpha features a recreation area complete with leather couches and a TV
The habitat was created for three planned experiments, the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA). The image shows a map of the facility
A diet of pre-packed provisions is supplemented with fresh salad and vegetables grown on ‘a vertical farm’ – in vertically stacked rows.
There is also fitness equipment, including a rowing machine and a treadmill on which the volunteers walk suspended from straps to simulate the lower gravity of Mars.
It even has an airlock that leads to an ‘outdoor’ reconstruction of the Martian environment, complete with red sand, although this is still located in the hangar where the facility is housed.
Various equipment is also scattered on the sandy bottom, including a weather station, a stone machine and a small greenhouse.
Experts at NASA hope the CHAPEA program will provide real insights into how humans will survive on the red planet.
The agency aims to put the first humans on Mars in the 2030s, if Elon Musk’s SpaceX doesn’t do it first.
NASA’s principal investigator on the CHAPEA project, Grace Douglas, said this data would allow the agency to better understand astronauts’ “resource use” on Mars.
“We can now really start to understand how we support them with what we offer them,” she said during an earlier press tour of the habitat, prior to the arrival of the first cohort.
“That will be very important information for making those critical resource decisions.”
NASA says: ‘During the mission, the crew will conduct simulated spacewalks and provide data on a variety of factors, including physical and behavioral health and performance’
The temporary home has basic facilities such as a kitchen and two bathrooms, shower and toilet and a recreation room
Pictured: a treadmill on which the volunteers walk while hanging from straps to simulate the lower gravity of Mars
Risk of cabin fever? There are four bedrooms in the futuristic Mars base: one for each resident
Although you don’t have to be an astronaut to apply, NASA’s selection criteria are strict.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents between the ages of 30 and 55.
They must also have at least two years of related professional experience in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) field or at least 1,000 hours of pilot time in jet aircraft.
They will also need to undergo a physical assessment, medical evaluations and psychological tests, be vaccinated against Covid, have no criminal background, and much more.
NASA added: ‘Candidates will not be selected if they have food allergies, avoidance behaviors or gastrointestinal disorders as these cannot be accommodated on a long-duration mission.
Applications are open now and run until April 2, with a start date planned for spring of next year.