Bakersfield, California – A pilot from Edwards Air Force Base has been selected to participate in NASA’s year-long Mars mission simulation.
U.S. Air Force Major Ross Elder will join three other volunteers for the program, which will begin in October and end in October 2026.
According to officials, Elder is the F-35 Integrated Test Force’s Director of Operations as well as an Air Force Test Pilot at the base.
Officials say the group will live in a 1,700-square-foot 3D-printed mockup of a Mars habitat design at Houston’s Johnson Space Center.
They will experience resource constraints, equipment failures, communication delays, isolation, and confinement.
