NASA is looking for applicants to spend a year pretending they are isolated on Mars.
The space agency wants people to apply so that it can prepare for eventually sending astronauts to the red planet.
Applications opened on Friday for four people to live for a year in Mars Dune Alpha.
Image: An image taken by China’s Zhurong rover
The 1,700-square-foot Martian habitat, created by a 3D-printer, is based inside a building at Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.
There will be no windows, and the applicants will consume ready-to-eat space food.
Advertisement
The paid volunteers work a simulated Martian exploration mission which includes spacewalks, limited communications back home, restricted food and resources and equipment failures.
Three of these experiments are being planned by NASA, with the first one starting in the autumn in 2022.
More from World
Lead scientist Grace Douglas said: “We want to understand how humans perform in them. We are looking at Mars realistic situations.”
Applicants have to hold a master’s degree in science, engineering or maths, or have pilot experience.
The agency also says only American citizens or permanent US residents are eligible for the experiment, which echoes 2015 film The Martian, starring Matt Damon.
They have to be aged between 30 and 55 and in good physical health, with no dietary issues and not prone to motion sickness.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield says it shows NASA is looking for people who are close to astronauts, which would make it a better experiment if the participants are more similar to the people who will really go to the planet.
He said previous Russian efforts at a pretend mission called Mars 500 did not end well, partly because the people were too much like everyday people.
Mr Hadfield spent five months in orbit in 2013 at the International Space Station, where he played guitar and sang a cover video of David Bowie’s hit Space Oddity.
He said: “Just think how much you’re going to be able to catch up on Netflix. If they have a musical instrument there, you could go into there knowing nothing and come out a concert musician, if you want.”
The experience could involve “incredible freedom” in a “year away from the demands of your normal life”, he added.
Meanwhile, NASA’s newest Mars rover, called Perseverance, failed in its first attempt to pick up a rock sample to eventually be brought back to Earth.
The machine drilled into the floor of the planet’s Jezero Crater to extract a finger-sized sample from slabs of flat rocks.
Although the drill seemed to work as intended, no rock appeared to have ended up in the sample tube.
Spotify
This content is provided by Spotify, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spotify cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spotify cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spotify cookies for this session only.
The entire East Wing of the White House will be demolished “within days” – much more bulldozing than initially expected for Donald Trump’s new ballroom construction project.
Two Trump administration officials told Sky News’ US partner NBC that the demolition is a significant expansion of the initial plans announced this summer.
“It won’t interfere with the current building,” Mr Trump had said on 31 July. “It’ll be near it, but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.”
Image: Rubble is piled higher and higher as demolition continues on the East Wing. Pic: AP
But a White House official told NBC News the “entirety” of the East Wing would eventually be “modernised and rebuilt”.
“The scope and the size of the ballroom project have always been subject to vary as the process develops,” the official added.
The East Wing was built at the beginning of the last century and was last modified in 1942.
Image: Trump shows off an artist’s impressions of his new ballroom. Pic:AP
Construction on the ballroom – which is expected to hold up to 900 people when finished – began this week.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a non-profit agency created by Congress to help preserve historic buildings, warned administration officials in a letter on Tuesday that the planned ballroom “will overwhelm the White House itself”.
“We respectfully urge the administration and the National Park Service (stewards of the White House) to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes,” Carol Quillen, the trust’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Image: Windows of the complex could be seen being torn down. Pic: Reuters
‘Fake news’
The White House called the uproar “manufactured outrage” by “unhinged leftists and their fake news allies” in a statement.
Last week, Mr Trump said the total price would be about $250m (£187m), which would be paid for by himself and private donors will pay for. However, on Wednesday, he said the ballroom’s price is “about $300m (£225m)”.
The 90,000 sq ft ballroom will dwarf the White House itself – and would be able to accommodate almost five times more guests than the East Room, the largest current space in the mansion.
Mr Trump says the ballroom won’t cost US taxpayers at all. Instead, “donors” would pay for it.
Comcast, the parent company of Sky News, was included on a list of top donors released last week – but it is unclear how much it or others have contributed.
A former world chess champion is being investigated over his public attacks on US grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, who died suddenly this week aged 29.
Russian player Vladimir Kramnik is facing disciplinary proceedings over repeated accusations against Mr Naroditsky.
He was found dead at his home earlier in North Carolina, and the cause has not been made public.
Image: Vladimir Kramnik. Pic: AP
Mr Naroditsky’s supporters claim he had been “bullied relentlessly online” by Mr Kramnik, with some calling for him to be banned from the game.
Mr Kramnik has accused a number of players of cheating in online games – and first voiced “concerns” about Mr Naroditsky’s play last year, leading to an ongoing feud between the pair.
The 50-year-old routinely posted online about his younger rival, calling for an investigation into his play and at times appearing to threaten legal action.
In an October 2024 interview, Mr Naroditsky characterised Mr Kramnik’s efforts as “a sustained, evil and absolutely unhinged attempt to destroy my life”.
More from World
Now, following the announcement of Mr Naroditsky’s death on Monday, the international chess federation (FIDE) has referred Mr Kramnik’s behaviour to its ethics and disciplinary commission.
Image: Naroditsky was a popular chess streamer on YouTube and Twitch. Pic: AP
FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich said in a statement: “I, along with the FIDE management board, will formally refer all relevant public statements made by GM (grandmaster) Vladimir Kramnik – both before and after the tragic death of GM Daniel Naroditsky – to the FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission for independent consideration.”
Mr Kramnik has denied wrongdoing, and claims he has also been bullied by members of the chess community – as well as receiving death threats.
He told Reuters: “What public statement after the death of Daniel was incorrect? … I have not bullied Daniel Naroditsky, nor ever made personal insults towards him.”
But prominent chess players have condemned Mr Kramnik’s conduct – with former world champion Magnus Carlsen describing his treatment of Mr Naroditsky as “horrible”.
Meanwhile, Indian grandmaster Nihal Sarin said the retired player “needs to pay for what he’s doing”.
Mr Naroditsky was one of America’s most recognisable chess figures and a former world youth champion.
At just 14 years old, he had written and published a book on the game – and in later years, educated followers through livestreams on Twitch and YouTube.
Mr Naroditsky denied cheating and appeared visibly distressed in his final Twitch broadcast last weekend, where he referred to the toll the controversy had taken on him, according to the now-deleted video.