Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Martian?

Mars Dune Alpha Conceptual Render: Visualization on Mars [Courtesy: NASA/ICON]

Do you have what it takes to live on Mars for a year? NASA is spooling up a new crew to simulate that very scenario and seeking applicants for the mission, it announced Friday.

The mission, set to begin in 2025, is the second of three ground-based CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) efforts that aim to inform NASA's plans for human exploration of Mars.

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The CHAPEA mission 1 crew—from left, Nathan Jones, Ross Brockwell, Kelly Haston, and Anca Selariu—exit a prototype of a pressurized rover and makes its way to the CHAPEA facility ahead of entry into the habitat on June 25, 2023. [Courtesy: NASA/Josh Valcarcel]

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Based on the job description, applicants must be up for an adventure.

"Each CHAPEA mission involves a four-person volunteer crew living and working inside a 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed habitat based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston," NASA said. "The habitat, called the Mars Dune Alpha, simulates the challenges of a mission on Mars, including resource limitations, equipment failures, communication delays, and other environmental stressors. Crew tasks include simulated spacewalks, robotic operations, habitat maintenance, exercise, and crop growth."

WATCH: NASA Offers a Sneak Peek of its Simulated Mars Habitat

According to NASA, applicants must be healthy, U.S. citizens or permanent residents, proficient in English, nonsmokers, and between the ages of 35-50.

The deadline to apply, which may be done here, is April 2.

CHAPEA Mars Mars Dune Alpha NASA Space

Kimberly JohnsonEditor

Kimberly is managing editor of FLYING Digital.