NASA Seeks Mars Crew – But No Sleepwalkers

NASA is looking for four volunteers to spend a year in simulated lunar and Martian habitats. Applicants need astronaut-like qualifications, no dietary restrictions and absolutely no history of sleepwalking.

Dreaming of leaving it all behind? NASA has you covered. Well … sort of. Photo: Statement/AI

Do you simply want to get away? Leave everything behind? The US space agency may have just the opportunity for you. NASA is seeking participants for a year-long Moon and Mars simulation. Beginning no earlier than August 2027, four volunteers will live, work and conduct research at the Johnson Space Center in Houston as though they were on their way to the Moon or Mars.

The mission is called the Moon and Mars Exploration Analog. It is designed to test how people cope with isolation, confined spaces, limited resources and the routines of a long-duration space mission. The participants will not leave Earth. They will simply live as though they had done so.

The catch lies in the eligibility requirements. Candidates must be US citizens or green-card holders, aged between 30 and 55, no taller than 1.88 m and fit enough to pass NASA’s tests. They also need technical skills, a good command of English and astronaut-like qualifications, such as a degree in engineering, biology, physics or mathematics.

Then comes the sentence that brings the whole endeavor back down to Earth: no dietary restrictions, no sleeping medication and no history of sleepwalking.

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A Year in Two Habitats

The mission will last around 14 months in total. The four participants will spend 12 months in two enclosed habitats, with a further two months devoted to preparation, training and follow-up examinations.

The first phase will simulate the journey itself. The participants will live in a spacecraft mock-up measuring around 60 square meters, where they will recreate a flight to the Moon or Mars. They will then move into an approximately 84-square-meter habitat designed to represent a station on an alien surface.

There, they will grow plants, monitor their health, work with technical equipment and rehearse outdoor excursions. Mars walks will also be simulated, though not on red desert soil but in a desert-like “sandbox” at the NASA site.

The mission will conclude with a simulated return journey in the capsule. For the first time, NASA is combining two previously separate areas of research: transit in a confined spacecraft and life on an alien surface.

Living on Mars Time

Sleep will be an important part of the experiment. A day on Mars lasts around 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth. That may not sound like much, but over weeks and months it can disrupt sleep, concentration and mood.

That is precisely why NASA wants to observe people under controlled conditions. How do small teams remain resilient? What happens when fresh food, sunlight, wind and family are absent? How well do routines function when a crew spends months living according to an artificial daily schedule?

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Previous participants in similar experiments have reported that it is the loss of simple things that becomes particularly noticeable. A doctor from Illinois who had already taken part in a Mars simulation said that the experience had given him a new appreciation of sunlight, wind and fresh food. The food provided during the mission was good, but there was little fresh produce apart from vegetables the participants grew themselves.

The new simulation is intended to provide data for future Artemis missions, a permanent lunar base and eventual crewed missions to Mars. The volunteers will be paid, although NASA does not make the amount clear in the listing.

This is what the dream of Mars looks like in 2026: four people, two confined habitats and a year without a real sky. Anyone prone to wandering through the capsule at night had better stay at home.