Effingham Native Nathan Jones Chosen for NASA Mars Living Simulation

Effingham native Nathan Jones is one of four participants selected by NASA to embark on the agency's first one-year analog mission in a habitat to simulate living on Mars. 

A son of Dr. Bob and Jill Jones of Effingham, Nathan will serve as Medical Officer for the simulation. 

CHAPEA, or Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, is a ground-based mission, set to begin in June at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The mission is the first of three planned one-year Mars surface simulations, during which crew members will live and work in a 3D-printed, 1,700 square foot habitat.

Researchers will simulate the challenges of a human mission to Mars, including resource limitations, equipment failure, communication delays, and other environmental stressors.

NASA is establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through Artemis. Knowledge gained on and around the Moon will help send the first astronauts to Mars in the future.

Jones, who lives in Springfield, is a board-certified emergency medicine physician specializing in prehospital and austere medicine. He currently works as an emergency medicine physician, emergency medical director, and tactical medical physician at Springfield Memorial Hospital. Jones also is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Medical Doctorate from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. He completed a residency in emergency medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria.