After a year on simulated Mars, NASA crew prepares to return home
The 378-day mission is helping researchers understand how isolation, limited resources and communication delays could affect future Mars explorers.
NASA has uncovered spots on rocks, created or modified by water, on Mars in the past.
NASA's simulated Mars crew has reached one year of living in a confined habitat as they prepare to exit and conclude their mission.
Since Oct. 19, 2025, the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) Mission 2 team has been living and working in isolation in a habitat simulating the Red Planet. The crew will exit the space on Oct. 31, marking the end of their 378-day mission, according to NASA. The egress ceremony will also be livestreamed.
Located at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, the habitat is a 1,700-square-foot 3D-printed space where the crew operated as though they were living on Mars. For the past year, they have been growing crops, navigating communication delays, managing limited resources and conducting spacewalks on a "simulated Martian surface."
Members of NASA’s CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) Mission 2 crew stands in their workspace after spending a year in their isolated and confined habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. (from left: James Spicer, Matthew Montgomery, Ellen Ellis and Ross Elder). (Credit: NASA)
The four crew members include Mission Commander Ross Elder, Medical Officer Ellen Ellis, Science Officer Matthew Montgomery and Flight Engineer James Spicer. Upon exiting the habitat, they will reconnect with their families, with whom they have only communicated via email with a "Mars-like communication delay."
Mars requires careful planning for successful missions, since it is located about 140 million miles from Earth. This significant distance can create communication delays of up to 20 minutes one way, NASA explained.
“We are extremely proud of the crew for their commitment and achievements over the last year on such a fast-paced, highly demanding mission,” CHAPEA Principal Investigator Grace Douglas said. “The entire CHAPEA team is excited to congratulate the crew in person.”
CHAPEA Mission 2 crew members Ellen Ellis (left) and Ross Elder (right) conduct a maintenance task during a simulated extravehicular activity, also known as a spacewalk. (Credit: NASA)
As the mission reaches its one-year milestone, NASA science teams are preparing to process performance and health data collected on the crew. This information will help the agency develop strategies to address spaceflight risks during future long-duration missions on Mars.
Once the crew returns, they will also participate in two weeks of post-mission evaluations and debriefs with NASA researchers. These conversations will provide insight into the physical and medical demands of missions far from Earth with communication delays. For example, data may reveal how limited food and exercise systems will influence NASA's ability to achieve mission goals, such as spacewalks on the Martian surface.
“When combining this Mars-realistic mission analog with a suite of physiological, psychological and performance measures in a rigorously controlled environment, we’ll be able to translate the knowledge from these experiences to Moon Base and beyond,” NASA’s Human Research Program Chief Scientist Michael Stenger said.
The NASA rover "Curiosity" discovered what scientists say is the largest ever seen organic molecules on Mars, raising speculation about if life was created billions of years ago on the Red Planet. (Photo credit: NASA/UPI)
Other missions are also working toward sending humans to the Red Planet. Moon Base will be humanity's first lunar outpost and is currently in the first phase of three until 2029. NASA explained that the moon is the best place to test deep space systems and operations to prepare for the first human mission to Mars.
"Like the Moon, Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and a driver of technologies that will enable humans to travel and explore far from Earth," NASA said.
The space agency plans to send humans to Mars as early as the 2030s.
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