HOUSTON — Mars is calling! Talk about a long distance phone call. How does helping NASA simulate life on a distant planet sound? If you're intrigued, we have the perfect job for you.
NASA is looking for people to live inside its Mars habitat at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
"My background is in space architecture," said Melodie Yashar, Director of Building Design and Performance for ICON.
As NASA journeys farther into the cosmos, minds like Yashar's have never been more important.
"It's amazing," said Yashar. "It's pretty rad yeah!"
ICON is the Texas company NASA tasked with creating a Mars habitat at the Johnson Space Center.
"It is a dream project, and it's as close as we can get to what a real kind of Martian scenario would actually be," Yashar said.
Mars Dune Alpha, the 3D printed version of the Red Planet habitat, will be done in a few months.
"We move very quickly, and that's one of the incredible performances of 3D printing is that we can build faster, more efficiently," Yashar said. "And we're going to have a hand at play for what our future Martian missions look like."
The inside of the Martian module is 1,700 square feet.
"So the idea is that you would send a robot to Mars before the crew arrives," Yashar said. "It would print your habitat, print the infrastructure of an initial settlement, and then the crew would actually have a place to sort of take shelter in when they when they actually get there."
The first crew is scheduled to call Mars Dune Alpha home in fall 2022. NASA's looking for some highly motivated individuals.
The last day to apply is Sept. 17. The pay is based on your education and experience. Everyone is welcome to apply, but crew selection will follow standard NASA criteria for astronaut candidate applicants.
For more information regarding NASA's requirements, click here.