The Mars Dune Alpha house, presented Tuesday by NASA, seems banal but, from June, four people will be confined there for more than a year to simulate life on Mars.
The habitat is located at the US Space Agency Research Center in Houston, Texas. Those who inhabit it will help prepare for a future mission to the red planet. By measuring their performance and cognitive abilities, NASA will better understand the “resources” that must be provided on this ambitious journey, explains Grace Douglas, a manager of the CHAPEA program, which supervises this experiment.
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The names of the voluntary prisoners are not yet known, but we already know that the team will not be made up of astronauts. They will be under stress on a regular basis, with water restrictions or equipment failures.
The space agency is preparing a round trip to Mars, but the big departure is not for now. This trip, which would last several years, could take place “at the end of the 2030s”, according to NASA boss Bill Nelson.