--- title: "Here’s What NASA Pays to Be Locked in a Mars Simulator for a Year" description: "Four individuals have agreed to be locked inside NASA's Mars simulator for just over a year. And they're being paid surprisingly little." date: "2023-07-01" modified: "2023-07-01" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/what-nasa-pays-locked-mars-simulator" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "mars" - "mars simulation base" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # Here’s What NASA Pays to Be Locked in a Mars Simulator for a Year ![Four individuals have agreed to be locked inside NASA's Mars simulator for just over a year. And they're being paid surprisingly little.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Martian Wage Four individuals have agreed to be sequestered inside a 1,700-square-foot simulated Mars habitat at NASA's Johnson Space Center to study what it would be like to live on the Red Planet and how humans can learn to cope in that extreme environment. During their 378-day stay, which [officially kicked off]() earlier this week, they'll have a surprisingly busy schedule, including a strict exercise regimen as well as a lengthy list of duties, from performing simulated spacewalks to growing crops. In other words, it's a demanding job that's bound to be tough on the crew of four. But they're not losing just over a year of their lives without being compensated. NASA is paying each participant $10 per hour for all waking hours, the [*Houston Chronicle* reports](), which adds up to just over $60,000 for the entire 378-day mission. All things considered, that seems a little low for such a strenuous gig — but then again, it's all for the good of humanity's interplanetary future. ## Learning to Cope The crew includes research scientist Kelly Haston, structural engineer Ross Brockwell, emergency medicine physician Nathan Jones, and US Navy microbiologist Anca Selariu. "It’s definitely going to be challenging," Brockwell told the *Chronicle,* "but that’s why we’re doing this. How we learn to cope with that is some of the most important information they’re going to get out of this study." Jones, however, was worried about something else entirely. "Something’s going to break at my home with my family, like the lawnmower or something, and I’m not going to be there to fix it," he told the newspaper. "I think it’s going to be easy to get homesick when that happens." Meanwhile, Haston is excited about the prospect of actually getting her hands dirty. "Being a scientist and also the test subject is actually a really unique and cool position to be in," she told the *Chronicle*. **More on the mission:** *[NASA Locks Test Subjects Inside Simulated Mars Base]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()