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.

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. 

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.