NASA Seeks Four People to Pretend to Live on Mars
- Editor OGN Daily
- Feb 23, 2024
- 1 min read
NASA can't send anyone to Mars just yet, but it's seeking four people to pretend it has.
NASA has put out a rare call for applicants to spend one year in a simulated Mars habitat - and it's willing to pay. The agency is looking for healthy adults with science degrees or military or piloting experience.
The Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) is running a series of one-year "missions" where volunteers who can act as astronauts would in space - NASA calls them analog astronauts - live inside a 3D printed habitat in Houston, Texas.
The 1,700-square-foot space, called the Mars Dune Alpha, mimics the habitats NASA may one day build on Mars to shelter astronauts.
The program's first four-person crew has been living in the structure since last July. NASA's reports on their progress hint at what the job is like: growing vegetables, simulating "Marswalks" in a sandbox, overseeing science experiments like those done on the International Space Station, and following a strict exercise regimen.
Now NASA is seeking applicants for its second CHAPEA mission, to start in spring 2025. The Houston Chronicle reports that NASA is paying the CHAPEA crew about $10 per every waking hour they spend on the mission, amounting to 16 hours a day, every day, for a full year. The paycheck? Roughly $60,000.
Applications are open until 2 April.
