Image of a space station and astronauts on Mars

This is one artist’s idea of what a future base on Mars may look like.

ICON

Mars on Earth

Four people are bringing us one step closer to landing on Mars—without ever leaving Earth.

March 18, 2024

By Rebecca Zissou

As You Read: Identify two challenges astronauts will face on Mars.

Last summer, Nathan Jones moved to a new home on Mars! Well, that’s not exactly true. Jones didn’t really leave Earth. He’s one of four volunteers living in a special base in Houston, Texas.

Their mission is known as CHAPEA. Its goal is to simulate what a year on Mars might be like. NASA, the U.S. space agency, is preparing to land the first astronauts on Mars in the 2030s.

“It makes me proud that I’m helping humans get to Mars,” Jones says.

Last summer, Nathan Jones moved to a new home on Mars! Well, that’s not exactly true. Jones didn’t really leave Earth. He’s one of four volunteers living in a special base. It’s in Houston, Texas.

Their mission is known as CHAPEA. Its goal is to simulate what a year on Mars might be like. NASA is the U.S. space agency. It’s preparing to land the first astronauts on Mars in the 2030s.

“It makes me proud that I’m helping humans get to Mars,” Jones says.

Building a Base

NASA wants to simulate life on Mars as closely as possible. Astronauts on Mars will use a 3-D printer to help build their home base. The CHAPEA base on Earth was built using a 3-D printer. It looks like what one on Mars might look like. It has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, work areas, and more. And it’s smaller than half the size of a basketball court.

Astronauts who travel to Mars will bring enough food in packages to last for years. But the trip might take about nine months. Fresh fruits and vegetables won’t survive that long. The astronauts will have to grow their own. To see how this might work on Mars, the CHAPEA crew grew their own tomatoes and lettuce.

NASA wants to simulate life on Mars as closely as possible. Astronauts on Mars will use a 3-D printer to help build their home base. The CHAPEA base on Earth was built using a 3-D printer. It looks like what one on Mars might look like. It has four bedrooms. It also has two bathrooms, work areas, and more. And it’s smaller than half the size of a basketball court.

Astronauts who travel to Mars will bring food in packages. They’ll have enough to last for years. But the trip might take about nine months. Fresh fruits and vegetables won’t survive that long. The astronauts will have to grow their own. The CHAPEA crew had to see how this might work on Mars. So they grew their own tomatoes and lettuce.

Pause and Think

Would you want to live on Mars for a year? Why or why not?

Just Like Mars

The CHAPEA crew is dealing with many problems that astronauts on Mars would. For example, communicating with the outside world is a challenge for the CHAPEA team.

If Jones has a question for NASA, he has to wait about 40 minutes for an answer. Why? That’s how long it will take to send messages back and forth between Mars and Earth.

To simulate exploring Mars, the crew walks on treadmills while wearing virtual reality headsets. The headsets show images of the Martian landscape. Before these “Mars walks,” the crew puts on spacesuits—just as astronauts will on Mars.

The CHAPEA crew is dealing with many problems that astronauts on Mars would. For example, communicating with the outside world is a challenge for the CHAPEA team.

If Jones has a question for NASA, he has to wait about 40 minutes for an answer. Why? That’s how long it will take to send messages back and forth between Mars and Earth.

To simulate exploring Mars, the crew walks on treadmills. They wear virtual reality headsets. The headsets show images of the Martian landscape. Before these “Mars walks,” the crew puts on spacesuits. They wear the suits just as astronauts will on Mars.

Mars vs. Earth

Mars is also known as the Red Planet. It’s one of Earth’s closest neighbors in our solar system. But the two planets are very different.

DIAMETER

(length of a line passing through the center of the planet)

Mars: 4,220 miles

Earth: 7,926 miles

ATMOSPHERE

Earth is surrounded by a thick layer of gas called the atmosphere. It protects us from harmful rays from the sun.

Mars’s atmosphere is thinner. Astronauts on Mars will have to deal with deadly rays.

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE

Mars: -81 degrees Fahrenheit

Earth: 57 degrees Fahrenheit

AVERAGE DISTANCE FROM THE SUN

Mars: 142 million miles

Earth: 93 million miles

LENGTH OF A YEAR

Mars: 687 Earth days

Earth: 365.25 days

^{Source: NASA}

DIAMETER

(length of a line passing through the center of the planet)

Mars: 4,220 miles

Earth: 7,926 miles

ATMOSPHERE

Earth is surrounded by a thick layer of gas called the atmosphere. It protects us from harmful rays from the sun.

Mars’s atmosphere is thinner. Astronauts on Mars will have to deal with deadly rays.

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE

Mars: -81 degrees Fahrenheit

Earth: 57 degrees Fahrenheit

AVERAGE DISTANCE FROM THE SUN

Mars: 142 million miles

Earth: 93 million miles

LENGTH OF A YEAR

Mars: 687 Earth days

Earth: 365.25 days

^{Source: NASA}

Far From Home

NASA is watching to see how the CHAPEA crew handles living in isolation. NASA is also studying how the four people get along in such a small space for such a long time.

For Jones, the hardest part is being away from his friends and family. Still, he is grateful to be a part of the mission, which ends in July. He hopes to inspire kids to want to travel to Mars.

“Maybe someone reading this could even go there someday,” Jones says.

NASA is watching to see how the CHAPEA crew handles living in isolation. NASA is also studying how the four people get along in such a small space for such a long time.

For Jones, the hardest part is being away from his friends and family. Still, he is grateful to be a part of the mission. It ends in July. He hopes to inspire kids to want to travel to Mars.

“Maybe someone reading this could even go there someday,” Jones says.