An Air Force test pilot will lead a four-person NASA crew living for a year inside a simulated Mars habitat as the space agency gears up for future long-term flights.
The crew will also include a Space Force officer who oversees spy satellites. A Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet pilot was picked as an alternate for the mission.
“This mission will provide NASA with foundational data to inform human exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond,” the agency said in a release.
Air Force Maj. Ross Elder and Space Force Col. Ellen Ellis will be paired with two civilians as the crew of a year-long Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, or CHAPEA mission. The four will enter an isolated, Mars-like habitat known as Mars Dune Alpha inside NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston this Oct. 19 and will not emerge until Oct. 26, 2026.
The habitat makes for close quarters, at just 1,700 square feet.
Three military officers on the crew
Elder, a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, will command the mission. An Air Force Academy graduate and fighter pilot for much of his career, Elder recorded 200 combat flight hours and has flown the F-35, F-15 and A-10.
Ellis will serve as the mission’s medical officer. According to a NASA biography, she is a material leader in the Communications Systems Directorate at the National Reconnaissance Office, the secret agency within the Pentagon that oversees the U.S.’s top secret fleet of spy satellites. An Air Force officer for most of her career, she was previously an ICBM launch officer.
Marine Capt. Emily Phillips was named one of two alternate crew members for the mission. An F/A/-18 pilot and U.S. Naval Academy graduate, according to a NASA release, Phillips is currently assigned as a forward air controller and air officer attached to an infantry battalion at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California.
Adapting to life on Mars
The mission is one of several planned by NASA to test how a human crew would adapt to the long durations of a manned mission to Mars. The missions will take place in what NASA calls a “3D-printed habitat” in which the crew will “undergo realistic resource limitations, equipment failures, communication delays, isolation and confinement, and other stressors, along with simulated high-tempo extravehicular activities,” according to a NASA release.
Sara Whiting, a project scientist with NASA’s Human Research Program at NASA Johnson “CHAPEA and other ground analogs are helping to determine which capabilities could best support future crews in overcoming the human health and performance challenges of living and operating beyond Earth’s resources.”
During the year in the simulated environment, crew members will carry out scientific research and operational tasks, including simulated Mars walks, growing a vegetable garden, robotic operations, and more. Technologies specifically designed for Mars and deep space exploration will also be tested, including a potable water dispenser and diagnostic medical equipment.
The mission is the second year-long CHAPEA mission. A four-person crew completed a year-long mission in July 2024.
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