Four Volunteers to Spend a Year in Simulated Martian Habitat

Four researchers have entered a simulated Martian environment, NASA's CHAPEA habitat, to spend a year living and working in the enclosed, Mars-like world to help the space agency prepare for future missions to the Red Planet. The 1,700-square-foot habitat is located at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and will simulate the challenges of a mission on Mars, including resource limitations, equipment failure, communication delays, and other environmental stressors. The four volunteers will carry out different activities as though they were on a mission to Mars, including simulated spacewalks, robotic operations, habitat maintenance, personal hygiene, exercise, and crop growth. The simulation will allow NASA to collect cognitive and physical performance data to give more insight into the potential impacts of long-duration missions to Mars on crew health and performance.