PointOrView's video: VIRTUAL MARS: NASA Astronauts Land on Mock-Mars Habitat for One-Year Simulated living

LIVING ON MARS: Four NASA volunteers entered a simulated Mars habitat on Sunday, where they will remain for 378 days while facing a range of challenges designed to anticipate a real-life human mission to the red planet. The participants — research scientist Kelly Haston, structural engineer Ross Brockwell, emergency medicine physician Nathan Jones and U.S. Navy microbiologist Anca Selariu — were selected from a pool of applicants to be part of NASA's Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, or CHAPEA, in its first yearlong mission. None of them are trained astronauts. During their time inside of the 3D-printed, 1,700-square-foot habitat, the crew is set to carry out an array of "mission activities," including simulated spacewalks, robotic operations, growing of crops, habitat maintenance, personal hygiene and exercise, according to NASA. At 1,700 square feet, the habitat is smaller than the average U.S. single-family house. It includes a kitchen, private crew quarters and two bathrooms, along with medical, work and recreation areas. They crew will also face a series of obstacles that likely mirror those of a true Mars mission, as researchers simulate conditions like resource limitations, equipment failure, communication delays and environmental stressors.