NASA’s second Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog ended Oct. 31 after 378 days, providing data for researchers assessing crew health under isolation and other Mars-like limits as NASA plans future lunar missions.
The four volunteers — commander Ross Elder, medical officer Ellen Ellis, science officer Matthew Montgomery and flight engineer James Spicer — left the Mars Dune Alpha habitat at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Oct. 31, 2026. They entered on Oct. 19, 2025, and lived in a roughly 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed facility. EconoTimes previously covered the mission’s scheduled close.
CHAPEA uses Earth-based habitat stays to examine health and performance during long-duration exploration. The program’s first crew also spent 378 days in the habitat, ending its mission July 6, 2024.
There were no windows, and crew members could not make real-time calls to family or friends. They exchanged emails subject to simulated Mars-like delays and worked with restricted resources. Their activities included simulated Marswalks, remote operations of a drone and rover, habitat upkeep, exercise and crop cultivation. The crew used the vehicles to survey terrain and locate or collect rock samples.
NASA collected health and performance data while the crew worked under those constraints. The agency said the findings could help lunar planners with food and water systems, crew time, communications capacity, medical care and behavioral support. NASA’s principal investigator said the data could help planners balance crew health and performance with practical limits on time, communications and food and water systems.
Medical officer Ellis credited the other volunteers with helping her manage the stay, saying, “I have three teammates that I rely on every day.” NASA scheduled a two-week follow-up of assessments and discussions with the team. The sessions are intended to give researchers added context for the crew’s health and performance records.
