Ready for Mars mission? NASA calls for applicants; Check out who can apply and other details here

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Mars surface mission which will help inform NASA's plans for human exploration of the Red Planet, the space agency said on its website. In spring 2025, CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog), the second of three planned ground-based missions, is expected to launch.

A four-person volunteer crew lives and works inside a 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed habitat that is located at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for each CHAPEA mission. The Mars Dune Alpha habitat replicates the difficulties of a mission to Mars, including shortages of supplies, malfunctioning equipment, hiccups in communication, and other environmental stressors, NASA said.

Tasks performed by the crew include exercise, robotics, crop growth, habitat maintenance, and simulated spacewalks. For efficient communication between crew members and mission control, NASA is seeking healthy, driven individuals who are 30-55 years old, nonsmokers, and fluent in English.

Candidates should be highly motivated to experience new and fulfilling adventures along with having a desire to support NASA's efforts to get ready for the first-ever human mission to Mars. The crew selection will also include additional standard NASA criteria for astronaut candidate applicants like a master's degree in a STEM field from an accredited institution with at least two years of professional STEM experience or at least one thousand hours experience of piloting an aircraft.

“Candidates who have completed two years of work toward a doctoral program in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, completed a medical degree, or a test pilot program will also be considered," NASA said on its website. The deadline for applicants to apply for this mission is April 2, 2024.