The Mars Desert Research Station


The Mars Desert Research Station - a step towards colonizing the Red Planet. 

Mars is the next frontier in human space exploration. In order to make this a reality, a group of scientists are actively doing research on how to live on Mars here on Earth. It sound very counter-intuitive at first but how they do it is actually very interesting. The key is finding a location on Earth that has conditions closely analogous to those in Mars and set-up a Human habitat called MARS (Mars Analog Research Stations). 
"Mars Analog Research Stations (MARS) are laboratories for learning how to live and work on another planet. Each is a prototype of a habitat that will land humans on Mars and serve as their main base for months of exploration in the harsh Martian environment. Such a habitat represents a key element in current human Mars mission planing."
Lay-out of a Mars HAB unit
Testing these prototype HAB units is essential in the success of a manned Mars mission. The unit needs to provide life support for the crew, provide support for conducting scientific research on the Martian surface and it needs to be able to withstand the Martian environment. 
"Each station will serve as a field base to teams of four to six crew members: geologists, astrobiologists, engineers, mechanics, physicians and others, who live for weeks to months at a time in relative isolation in a Mars analog environment. Mars analogs can be defined as locations on Earth where some environmental conditions, geologic features, biological attributes or combinations thereof may approximate in some specific way those thought to be encountered on Mars.."
The most interesting part of the research being conducted is the Human side of the experimentation. The trip to Mars will require a small group of human beings to be in isolation for months. Part of the research being done in MDRS is the effects of isolation on the crew members, finding the right personality types that work well together and finding the right routine to follow that will keep the crew focused, productive and socially cohesive. 

 A lot of people are still sceptical about a mission to Mars. Their scepticism is mainly rooted on one question - why? Some people still do not understand why any country would want to spend billions of dollars on a mission to Mars when millions of people on earth are starving. It is a valid point but comes from a very narrow zero-sum view of society. A manned mission to Mars is more than just sending some people and equipment into space, it is an important step towards determining the future of our species.
"Indeed, with so much at stake, Mars is a test for us. It asks us if we intend to continue to be a society of pioneers, people who dare great things to open untrodden paths for the future...whether we will continue to open new possibilities for our descendants, or whether we will become less than those who took on the unknown to give everything we have to us."

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