NASA Is Locking Four Science Nerds Into Total Isolation For A Year

NASA is testing how the human mind and spirit endure intense isolation by locking four volunteer scientists into a simulated settlement on Mars ahead of sending astronauts to the real red planet.

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The CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) mission is the first of three year-long missions testing the ability of humans to live together in isolation. The experiment started Sunday, June 25 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The four volunteers will live in Mars Dune Alpha—a completely closed 1,700 square foot habitat—for the next 365 days where the crew will attempt to grow food, fix technical glitches and failures, perform “space walks,” ration resources and generally live like they are already on Mars.

“The simulation will allow us to collect cognitive and physical performance data to give us more insight into the potential impacts of long-duration missions to Mars on crew health and performance,” said Grace Douglas, CHAPEA principal investigator in a press release. “Ultimately, this information will help NASA make informed decisions to design and plan for a successful human mission to Mars.”

An actual round trip to Mars is estimated to take four years, according to the Independent. There’s no official plan for a Mars mission at this time, but NASA hopes to use a planned base on the Moon as a jumping off point to the red planet.

CHAPEA Mission 1 Crew Ingress

Frankly, I’m jealous. As a natural homebody, a whole year away from the hustle and bustle of daily life sounds like just the vacation I need. The four volunteers include a research scientist, a structural engineer, a microbiologist and an ER doctor. A good crew to be sure, but I feel the lack of a spunky terminally online journalist might be an oversight. Who else is going to document their trials, tribulations and hot gossip with snappy headlines? Who is going to make the tasteful dick jokes? This is why I’m volunteering for one of the two future simulated missions NASA plans on running. I may be useless on an actual spaceship, but I can be an asset here on Earth. Especially if it means missing the next round of ridiculous and increasingly terrible news cycles out here in the real world.