NASA is looking for volunteers who want to channel their inner Matt Damon by spending a year pretending to be isolated on Mars. To prepare for eventually sending astronauts to the red planet, the US space agency will select four individuals to live exclusively in a Mars-like habitat, albeit on Earth – Houston to be precise.

The paid volunteers will work a simulated Martian exploration mission complete with spacewalks, limited communications back home, restricted food and resources, and equipment failures in the Mars Dune Alpha – a 160-sq.-m. Martian habitat created by a 3D-printer and inside a building at Johnson Space Center.

NASA is planning three of these experiments with the first one starting in the fall next year. Food will all be ready-to-eat space food and at the moment there are no windows planned. Some plants will be grown, but not potatoes like in the movie “The Martian,” in which Damon played stranded astronaut Mark Watney, who survived on spuds.

“We want to understand how humans perform in them,” says lead scientist Grace Douglas. “We are looking at Mars realistic situations.”

The requirements for applicants, however, are strict, including a master’s degree in a science, engineering or math field or pilot experience. Only American citizens or permanent US residents are eligible; they must also be between 30 and 55, in good physical health with no dietary issues, and not prone to motion sickness.

That shows NASA is looking for people who are close to astronauts, says former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, adding that’s a good thing because it is a better experiment if the participants are more similar to the people who will really go to Mars. Past Russian efforts at a pretend Mars mission called Mars 500 didn’t end well partly because the people were too much like everyday people, he said.

For the right person this could be great, says Hadfield, who 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 “Space Oddity.”

“Just think how much you’re going to be able to catch up on Netflix,” he says. “If they have a musical instrument there, you could go into there knowing nothing and come out a concert musician, if you want.”

There could be also be “incredible freedom” in a “year away from the demands of your normal life.”

Attitude is key, says Hadfield, adds the participants need to be like Damon’s Watney character: “Super competent, resourceful, and not relying on other people to feel comfortable.”