NASA Wants Four Volunteers to Lock Themselves in a Tiny Box for a Year to See if Humans Can Actually Survive a Trip to Mars
Endless possibilities.
NASA is now accepting applications for four volunteers willing to spend a year locked inside a tiny, simulated spacecraft and Mars habitat to test if humans can actually handle the grind of a real trip to the Red Planet. According to CNN, the Moon and Mars Exploration Analog (MMEA) program kicks off no earlier than August 2027 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. It’s about figuring out how to keep astronauts healthy and productive during the long haul to Mars.
The 12-month mission is split into three brutal phases, starting with a mock 650-square-foot spacecraft where volunteers will live as if they’re hurtling toward the Moon or Mars. That’s roughly the size of a small studio apartment, and it comes with individual quarters for sleeping, working, and a tiny bathroom that’s nothing like what real astronauts use. After that, the crew moves into a slightly roomier 900-square-foot facility designed to mimic life on the Martian surface.
Here, they’ll grow their own food, manage their health, and practice spacewalks on a sandbox that simulates the dusty, uneven terrain of another planet. The final phase? A return “trip” to Earth in the same cramped spacecraft they started in. It’s a full-circle test of endurance, and NASA is making sure the habitats are even smaller than in past simulations to better replicate the early stages of Mars exploration.
The goal is to study how humans handle the realities of living on Mars time
A Martian day, or sol, is about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day, and that tiny difference can wreak havoc on sleep patterns, health, and performance. NASA wants to know how crews will adapt. Volunteers must be U.S. citizens or green card holders, aged 30 to 55 (though exceptions might be made), and no taller than 6 feet 2 inches.
They’ll need to pass rigorous physical and psychological evaluations, have no dietary restrictions, and can’t have a history of sleepwalking or relying on sleeping aids. They’ll need “astronaut-like qualifications,” meaning a bachelor’s degree in engineering, biological science, physical science, or math – or an advanced STEM degree, or military experience. The entire commitment is 14 months, including two months of pre- and post-mission training.
This isn’t NASA’s first rodeo with simulated space missions. The agency has run 28 transit simulations and two surface habitat experiments under its Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) program, which focuses on how volunteers cope with the isolation and challenges of Mars-like conditions. But MMEA is the first to combine both the transit and surface phases into one seamless, year-long test.
Nathan Jones, a doctor from Illinois who served as the medical officer in a previous CHAPEA mission, said the experience was eye-opening. After a year inside a 1,700-square-foot simulated Mars habitat with no sunlight or fresh air, he said he developed a new appreciation for the little things, like wind on his face or a salad that didn’t come from a NASA-approved menu.
The food was decent, he admitted, but the lack of fresh produce and the monotony of the environment took a toll. Emotionally, the hardest part was missing his family – birthdays, holidays, graduations, even funerals. Still, Jones said the mission only strengthened his ambition to become an astronaut, and he’d even consider a commercial spaceflight someday.
NASA’s push for these simulations isn’t just about Mars
It’s part of a much bigger plan to make living on the moon a reality. The agency’s Moon Base Program is already in motion, with a phased approach to establishing a permanent human presence near the lunar South Pole. The final phase aims for a “sustained human presence” by the early 2030s, where living and working on the moon becomes as routine as, well, living in a tiny box for a year.
George Sowers, a professor at the Colorado School of Mines and former NASA advisory council member, told Newsweek the biggest hurdles are the lack of atmosphere and extreme temperatures. Near the lunar South Pole, temperatures swing from a scorching 130 degrees Fahrenheit in sunlight to a bone-chilling minus 334 degrees Fahrenheit in permanently shadowed craters.
Without a magnetic field, the moon is also bombarded by space radiation, which means most people will spend their time indoors, buried under layers of lunar soil for protection. That doesn’t mean outdoor excursions are off the table, but they’ll be strictly limited. Sowers explained that astronauts have lifetime radiation exposure limits, so every trip outside adds up. That’s why he predicts heavy reliance on robotics for outdoor tasks.
If habitats are properly shielded, though, he believes humans could live on the moon indefinitely. Even tourism might eventually become an option, with short visits posing minimal radiation risks.
The real game-changer, according to Sowers, could be energy production
The moon’s lack of atmosphere and constant sunlight make it an ideal spot for space-based solar power. Unlike Earth, where solar panels are limited by weather, seasons, and nighttime, solar power satellites in space could generate energy 24/7, 365 days a year.
Building those satellites from lunar materials could be far cheaper than launching them from Earth, and Sowers thinks it’s a realistic goal within the next 50 years. If it happens, it could revolutionize energy on Earth, making fossil fuels obsolete.
NASA’s timeline is ambitious, and Sowers admits there will likely be delays as engineers work through the inevitable “glitches and road bumps.” But the agency is determined to make it happen, and programs like MMEA are a critical step in figuring out how to keep humans alive, healthy, and productive during long-duration space missions.
(Featured image: semeion, NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Simeon Schmauß)
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