After 378 days living under conditions similar to those on Mars, on July 6, 2024, four volunteer scientists stepped out of “Mars Dune Alpha,” a structure specifically designed for testing life in conditions akin to those on the Red Planet. This is the first of three experiments in NASA’s Analogue project, which explores crew health and endurance.
Image from a NASA video: A NASA official speaks, with scientists Kelly Haston, Ross Brockwell, Nathan Jones, and Anca Selariu (from left to right) behind him after they exited the test area on July 6, 2024, at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, USA. (Photo: AP).
The four scientists – Anca Selariu, Ross Brockwell, Nathan Jones, and team leader Kelly Haston – emerged to applause from their NASA colleagues after spending 378 days in their “Martian home”, constructed using 3D printing technology and located in Houston, USA. All four scientists could not hide their emotions and joy at being outside. Team leader and biologist Kelly Haston expressed, “It feels amazing just to be able to say ‘hello’ to everyone.”
“Mars Dune Alpha” spans 160 square meters, featuring multiple sleeping quarters, a gym, a communal living area, and a vertical farm for self-sustaining vegetable growth. According to AFP, for over a year, they grew their own vegetables and worked under “stress-inducing conditions” such as isolation, separation, and delayed communication with Earth and family. In another area covered in red sand and separate from the living quarters, the scientists had to simulate “walking on Mars.”
Steve Koerner, assistant director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, stated that the team was tasked with “conducting important scientific research, primarily focused on nutrition and determining the effects of nutrition on their performance (…) as we prepare to send humans to the Red Planet.”
A similar year-long experiment took place between 2015 and 2016 in a “habitat” constructed in Hawaii. Although NASA was involved, it did not lead the project. As part of the Artemis program, the United States plans to return humans to the Moon to further understand the ability to live away from Earth for extended periods, as well as to prepare for a journey to Mars, potentially by the late 2030s.
