Last summer, Nathan Jones packed his bags for a year-long mission on Mars. Well, not exactly. He didn’t actually leave Earth. Jones is one of four volunteers who are living in a specially built base at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. 

The goal of the mission, known as CHAPEA, is to simulate what a long stay on Mars would be like. The team is helping NASA, the U.S. space agency, prepare to land the first astronauts on the Red Planet in the 2030s.

“It makes me really proud to think that I am helping humans get to the real Mars,” Jones says.

Nathan Jones packed his bags last summer. He was leaving for a year-long mission on Mars. Well, not exactly. He didn’t actually leave Earth. Jones is part of a team of four volunteers. They are living in a specially built base at the Johnson Space Center. That’s in Houston, Texas. 

The mission is known as CHAPEA. Its goal is to simulate what a long stay on Mars would be like. The team is helping NASA, the U.S. space agency, prepare to land the first astronauts on the Red Planet in the 2030s.

“It makes me really proud to think that I am helping humans get to the real Mars,” Jones says.

The CHAPEA team is dealing with many of the same problems a crew would on Mars. Astronauts who travel to the Red Planet would be stocked with packaged goods that could last for years. But fresh fruits and vegetables wouldn’t survive the trip, so the astronauts would have to grow their own. In November, the CHAPEA crew managed to harvest its first crop of tomatoes and lettuce. 

Communicating with the outside world is a challenge too. If Jones or another team member has a question for NASA, they have to wait more than 40 minutes for a response. That’s how long it would take to send messages back and forth between Mars and Earth. 

NASA didn’t re-create the brutal outside conditions on Mars, where the average temperature is a frosty -81 degrees Fahrenheit. But the CHAPEA base does have a large enclosed “sandbox” for the team to explore. They also walk for miles on treadmills while wearing virtual reality headsets that display images of the Martian landscape. Before these “Mars walks,” they put on spacesuits—just as real astronauts would on Mars. 

The CHAPEA team is dealing with many of the same problems a crew would on Mars. Astronauts who travel to Mars would bring packaged goods that could last for years. But fresh fruits and vegetables wouldn’t survive the trip. So the astronauts would have to grow their own. The CHAPEA crew harvested its first crop of tomatoes and lettuce in November. 

Communicating with the outside world is a challenge too. If Jones or another team member has a question for NASA, they have to wait more than 40 minutes for a response. That’s how long it would take to send messages back and forth between Mars and Earth.  

NASA didn’t re-create the brutal outside conditions on Mars. The average temperature on the Red Planet is a frosty -81 degrees Fahrenheit. But the CHAPEA base does have a large enclosed “sandbox” for the team to explore. They also walk for miles on treadmills while wearing virtual reality headsets. The headsets display images of the Martian landscape. They wear spacesuits during these “Mars walks,” just as real astronauts would on Mars.