Do you pretend to live on Mars? For a whole year? Apply now

Want to find Matt Damon in you and spend a year pretending to be solitude on Mars? NASA has a job for you.

In preparation to finally send astronauts to Mars, NASA began accepting applications on Friday four people Live on Mars Alpha for a year. This is a 1,700-square-foot home on Mars created with a 3D printer and located in a building at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Hired volunteers will work on a simulated Mars exploration mission, including space walks, limited communication at home, limited food and resources, and equipment failure.

NASA is planning three of these experiments, with the first scheduled to begin this fall. The food will all be ready-to-eat space food and there are no windows planned at the moment. Some plants are grown, but not potatoes, as in the movie “The Mars”. Damon played stranded astronaut Mark Watney who survived a potato.

“We want to understand how people work in it,” said Grace Douglas, chief scientist. “We consider real Mars positions.”

the Application process Open on Friday and they are not looking for one. Requirements are stringent, including a master’s degree in a field of science, engineering, mathematics, or experimental experience. Only US citizens or permanent residents of the United States are eligible. Applicants must be between 30 and 55 years old, be in good physical shape, not have nutritional problems and not suffer from motion sickness.

Former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield said this shows that NASA is looking for people close to the astronauts. And he said. This is a good thing because it is a better experience if the participants are more like people who actually travel to Mars. Previous Russian efforts on a hypothetical mission to Mars called Mars 500 did not end well in some cases He said because people look a lot like normal people.

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Hadfield, who spent five months in orbit on the International Space Station in 2013 where Play the guitar and sing the cover video On “Space Oddity” by David Bowie.

“Just think about how much you can catch up with Netflix,” he said. “If you have an instrument there, you can go there without knowing anything and get an instrument there if you want to.”

There can be “incredible freedom” in a “year away from the demands of your normal life.”

Hadfield, who published The Apollo Murders this fall, said the situation was key. He said attendees should be like Damon Watney’s character: “He’s super knowledgeable, resourceful, and doesn’t depend on others to feel comfortable.”

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The Associated Press’s Department of Health and Science is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. AP is solely responsible for all content.

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