Red sand shifts under the boots of the crew members. In the distance, it appears that a rocky mountain range is rising out of the Martian horizon. A thin layer of red dust coats the solar panels and equipment necessary for the year-long mission.
However, this landscape isn’t actually 230m km away. We are in a corner of the Nasa Johnson Space Center in Houston, in a large white warehouse right next to the disc golf course and on the tram route used by tourists and school groups. Starting this June, four volunteer test subjects will spend a year locked inside this building, pretending to live on Mars.
Nasa researchers say they are doing everything they can to make their Martian bunker as realistic
