NASA

NASA is not quite sending astronauts to Mars, but four research volunteers will be sent to the Johnson Space Center in Houston next month to simulate a Mars mission for more than a year, according to the federal agency.

Beginning on Sunday, Oct. 19, those four researchers — Ross Elder, Ellen Ellis, Matthew Montgomery and James Spicer — will carry out missions like growing a vegetable garden, operating robots and simulations of walking along the red planet's surface.

That team will live in a 1,700-square foot, 3D-printed habitat, called the Mars Dune Alpha habitat, until Oct. 31, 2026 — a total of 378 days.

They will also go through "realistic resource limitations, equipment failures, communication delays, isolation and confinement, and other stressors," according to a NASA news r

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