Want to find your inner Matt Damon and spend a year pretending you are isolated on Mars? NASA has a job for you. To prepare for eventually sending astronauts to Mars, NASA began taking applications Friday for four people to live for a year in Mars Dune Alpha, Phys.org reports. That’s a 1,700-square-foot Martian habitat, created by a 3D-printer, and inside a building at Johnson Space Center in Houston. The paid volunteers will work a simulated Martian exploration mission complete with spacewalks, limited communications back home, restricted food and resources, and equipment failures. NASA is planning three of these experiments with the first one starting in the fall next year. Food will all be ready-to-eat space food. There are no windows planned. Some plants will be grown, but not potatoes like in the movie The Martian. Damon played stranded astronaut Mark Watney, who survived on spuds. Requirements for applicants are strict, including a master’s degree in a science, engineering, or math field, or pilot experience. Only American citizens or permanent U.S. residents are eligible. Applicants must be age 30-55, in good physical health with no dietary issues, and not prone to motion sickness.
