NASA is offering a chance to ‘live on Mars’ for a year without leaving Earth & you can apply now

Shoot for Mars, if you miss you’ll just land right back here on Earth. Are you intrigued with going to Mars or space in general? Did you miss out on Bezo’s space ride bidding war? Well have no fear, NASA wants you to be a crew member on the first one-year analog mission to simulate life on a distant world in a habitat created right here on earth.

This mission is one of three known as the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog. They’ll take place at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 2022 and the goal is to see how “highly motivated individuals respond under the rigor of a long-duration, ground-based simulation”. Basically, NASA is trying to understand how future astronauts will respond to longer space travels with new sets of challenges.

Related posts:
This interactive map shows the places in Seattle that make people the happiest
You can explore Da Vinci’s inventions brought to life at this new immersive exhibit in Seattle

The missions sound a lot like a video game because well, they’re a simulation. Each mission will have four crew members who live and work together in a 1,700-square-foot module 3D-printed by ICON, called Mars Dune Alpha. The 3D-printed habitat will give crew members all the challenges of a mission on Mars. That includes things like resource limitations, equipment failure, communication delays, and other environmental stressors. It definitely sounds stressful.

Now crew members will also have to do tasks because they’re on “Mars”. Some of those tasks could include things like simulated spacewalks, scientific research, using virtual reality, and more. The findings and results from these tasks will provide scientific data to help create the best systems and solutions for future missions.

Now the requirements are pretty specific for this one. NASA is looking for healthy, English-speaking, motivated U.S. citizens or permanent residents who are non-smokers, age 30-55 years old. That’s not all, you’re required to be really smart and experienced as well. What does that entail? A master’s degree in a STEM field, at least two years of professional STEM experience, or a minimum of one thousand hours piloting an aircraft.

We told you it was specific but hey if you’re serious about going to space you’re probably a smarty pants already. You can learn more and apply by clicking here. Have fun out there folks!