4 Volunteers Embark on Mission to Live Inside 3D-Printed Mars Simulation for 378 Days

Four volunteers have been selected to live together for the next year inside a special Mars habitat made by NASA.

"Four volunteers are about to embark on an out-of-this-world experience without leaving Earth!" NASA's Johnson Space Center wrote on Twitter before the 378-day mission began on Sunday.

The experiment, taking place at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, is designed to help NASA understand what it would be like for humans to live on Mars during extended space travel and to set a precedent "for one-year missions to the Martian surface,” per NASA’s website.

Dubbed CHAPEA, or Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, the experiment will take place in a special 3D-printed habitat that will be closed to the outside world for the year-long duration of the project, according to NASA. Over 4,000 people applied to take part in it.

During this time, the major crew activities "may consist of simulated spacewalks including virtual reality, communications, crop growth, meal preparation and consumption, exercise, hygiene activities, maintenance work, personal time, science work, and sleep," officials said.

The four participants will be forced to work together to tackle any unexpected challenges as they arise, per NASA's website: "The habitat will be as Mars-realistic as feasible, which may include environmental stressors such as resource limitations, isolation, equipment failure, and significant workloads."

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"We've specifically chosen people that we hope to succeed together very carefully screened, and really clear that they have the ability to work on teams," Dr. Suzanne Bell, a Behavior Health and Performance Laboratory lead, said, according to ABC affiliate KTRK. "And so our objectives are really about optimizing that human health and performance."

According to a NASA release, the four intrepid scientists selected for the mission are Kelly Haston, commander; Ross Brockwell, flight engineer; Nathan Jones, medical officer; and Anca Selariu science officer.

"We want to thank the many teams that worked together tirelessly to pull this all together," Vanessa E. Wyche, the director of NASA's Johnson Space Center, said at a press conference. This crew…volunteered to help us in getting ready for our missions to Mars. I’m super excited about the science that will be obtained."