Overview
- NASA this month opened applications for four volunteer research participants for the Moon and Mars Exploration Analog, a roughly 14-month program that begins no earlier than August 2027 at Johnson Space Center.
- Selected volunteers will spend about 12 months living in two confined habitats—a mock 650-square-foot transit module and a one-story ~900-square-foot surface facility—and take part in simulated transit, surface operations, crop cultivation and mock spacewalks.
- The study will track physical and psychological health, crew performance and adaptation to a Martian sol (a day about 40 minutes longer than Earth’s) to help identify risks and test countermeasures for long-duration missions.
- Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents with ‘astronaut-like’ STEM qualifications, pass medical and psychological screening, meet age and height limits, have no dietary restrictions or sleepwalking history, and will be reimbursed for participation.
- MMEA combines NASA’s previous HERA transit tests and CHAPEA surface analogs into a single campaign so researchers can validate habitats, procedures, rovers and life-support concepts that could inform sustained lunar bases and eventual crewed Mars missions.