NASA Wants To Pay People To Simulate Living On Mars

NASA has ambitious plans to send humans to the surface of Mars for the first time in the future. Ahead of that mission, NASA has to be sure that its habitats for astronauts will work. The space agency seeks applicants to participate as crew members during a one-year-long mission in a habitat meant to simulate life on Mars.

The mission would begin in the fall of 2022. NASA plans to study how highly motivated individuals respond under the rigors of long-duration ground-based simulation. Missions are known as Crew Health and Performance Expiration Analog. Three one-year Mars surface simulations will be conducted at the Johnson Space Center.

Each mission will support research to develop methods and technology to prevent and resolve potential problems on future human spaceflight missions. Each of the missions will have four crewmembers living and working in a 1700 square-foot module that is 3D printed called Mars Dune Alpha.

Crew tasks could include simulated space walks, scientific research, the use of virtual reality and robotic controls, and communications. In addition, NASA says results will help fine-tune its hardware and provide data to validate its systems and solutions.