Four Volunteers Exit NASA’s Mock Mars Habitat After 378 Days, Ending Agency’s First Year-Long Mission Simulation

Four volunteers have exited a mock Mars habitat at NASA 's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas after being locked away in a 378-day simulation.

Knewz.com has learned that the exercise was the first to be completed in NASA’s Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) series.

Kelly Haston, Anca Selariu, Ross Brockwell, and Nathan Jones spent the past year in a 1,700-square-foot habitat inside a sprawling hangar designed to simulate conditions on a distant planet.

This experience is expected to help NASA understand the challenges humans might face during extended periods away from Earth .

Footage of the four volunteers exiting that habitat has since surfaced with the deputy director of the Johnson Space Center, Steve Koerner saying:

“They [the four volunteers] have spent more than a year in this habitat conducting crucial science most of it nutrition-based and how that impacts their performance, but crucial science , as we prepare to send people on to the red planet.”

“These four individuals volunteered more than a year ago to dedicate their time to this effort. I'm very appreciative. They've been separated from their families , placed on a carefully prescribed meal plan, and undergone a lot of observation.”

The quartet stepped out to a round of applause, and notably – given their year-long stay in a sterile environment – were told to wear facemasks.

Officials responsible for the experiment described what the quartet had to endure while locked away:

“For more than a year, the crew simulated Mars mission operations, including 'Marswalks,' grew and harvested several vegetables to supplement their shelf-stable food , maintained their equipment and habitat and operated under additional stressors a Mars crew will experience, including communication delays with Earth, resource limitations and isolation.”

Haston who commanded the mission recounted her stay in the habitat saying: “CHAPEA-1 has been a unique experience, with great challenges, joys and sorrows and a lot of hard work, with a fair bit of fun thrown in as well.”

“I am humbled that being away on a one-year Mars analog brought me closer to those I was with and those I left back at home.”

She went on to say :

“A lot of people do ask us whether we feel like we're really on Mars, and to be honest, sometimes or partially is the answer.”

“We do have the isolation you would expect for people that are based on Mars because of the communication limitations that we're experiencing as well as other resource limitations.”

She further noted that they were presented with problems and challenges that future visitors to the red planet can expect to face—and adapted.

“The crew is actually really innovative and adaptive and troubleshoots really quickly in times when we can't get an answer back from Mission control very quickly.”

The conclusion of the first chapter of the Mars CHAPEA-1 program comes as NASA hopes to send a crewed mission to the red planet between the late 2030s and early 2040s.