Research
He spent a year on ‘Mars’: NASA science officer emerges from mock mission
Nature · By Kaia Glickman ·
The Brief
- Engineer Matthew Montgomery finished a 378-day simulated Mars mission, part of NASA's CHAPEA program.
- He describes a two-week blackout during which he was out of contact with the rest of humanity.
- Nature published his account on 2026-11-09.
Why it matters
Long-duration isolation studies like this one inform how crews may cope with communication delays and isolation on future missions to Mars.
Who’s affected
- space researchers and mission planners
- readers interested in long-duration crew isolation studies
- CHAPEA Mission 2
- #mars
- #space-exploration
- #isolation
- #analog-mission
- #nasa
Nature, Published online: 09 November 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03588-w Engineer Matthew Montgomery, who just finished a 378-day simulated Mars mission, talks about what it was like to be out of contact with the rest of humanity for a two-week blackout.
Timeline
Nature publishes Montgomery's reflections after the 378-day simulated Mars mission
nature.com
He spent a year on ‘Mars’: NASA science officer emerges from mock mission