On Sunday, 4 volunteers selected “based on NASA’s usual criteria for astronaut candidates” entered Mars Dune Alpha, a “simulation colony” of future life on Mars, set up by NASA inside the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The 4 volunteers will live in the colony for 378 days. During the mission, the crew members will live and work in isolation from the outside, terrestrial world, as if they were real colonists of the Red Planet.

The volunteers, who will be paid, will undertake tasks such as spacewalk simulations, use of virtual reality and scientific research.

However, the 4 “colonists” will have to face significant challenges, such as troubleshooting equipment as well as limited communication with the outside world and limited supplies.

The Mars Dune Alpha colony is a 600 square meter unit made by a 3D printer. In the facility there are individual rooms, a kitchen, two toilets, a gym and a place for crops.

When NASA announced its ambitious experiment in 2021, Grace Douglas, chief scientist in the space agency’s food technology group, said: “The experiment is critical to finding solutions to the complex needs of life on the surface of Mars. The simulations on Earth will help us understand and calculate the physical and mental challenges that the astronauts will face before they depart.”