About the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS)

Mars is within reach! A world with a surface area the size of the combined continents of the Earth, the Red Planet contains all the elements needed to support life. As such it is the Rosetta stone for revealing whether the phenomenon of life is something unique to the Earth, or prevalent in the universe. The exploration of Mars may also tell us whether life as we find it on Earth is the model for life elsewhere, or whether we are just a small part of a much vaster and more varied tapestry. Moreover, as the nearest planet with all the required resources for technological civilization, Mars will be the decisive trial that will determine whether humanity can expand from its globe of origin to enjoy the open frontiers and unlimited prospects available to multi-planet spacefaring species. Offering profound enlightenment to our science, inspiration and purpose to our youth, and a potentially unbounded future for our posterity, the challenge of Mars is one that we must embrace.

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. It puts us to the question of whether we will be people whose deeds are celebrated in newspapers, or in museums; 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. Mars is the great challenge of our time.

In order to help develop key knowledge needed to prepare for human Mars exploration, and to inspire the public by making sensuous the vision of human exploration of Mars, the Mars Society has initiated the Mars Analog Research Station (MARS) project. A global program of Mars exploration operations research, the MARS project will include four Mars base-like habitats located in deserts in the Canadian Arctic, the American southwest, the Australian outback, and Iceland. In these Mars-like environments, we will launch a program of extensive long-duration geology and biology field exploration operations conducted in the same style and under many of the same constraints as they would on the Red Planet. By doing so, we will start the process of learning how to explore on Mars.

Mars Society: Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS)

The Not so Secret other Astronauts in Training for Mars Mission upcoming mission schedules...

    * Crew 62 (Dec. 08 - Dec 23, 2007) - Jon Pineau, Commander
    * Crew 63 (Dec. 22, 2007-Jan. 5, 2008) - David Rajzman, Commander
    * Crew 64 (Jan. 06 - Jan. 19, 2008) - William Durocher, Commander
    * Crew 65 (Jan. 20 - Feb. 02, 2008) - Debi-Lee Wilkinson, Commander
    * Crew 66 (Feb. 03 - Feb. 16, 2008) - Expedition Delta - John Thaler, Organizer
    * Crew 67 (Feb. 17 - Mar. 01, 2008) - Expedition Epsilon - Randall Shelaga, Organizer
    * Crew 68 (Mar. 02 - Mar. 15, 2008) - 4th F.L.A.M.E. Crew
    * Crew 69 (Mar. 16 - Mar. 29, 2008) - Georgia Tech Crew - Emily Colvin, Organizer
    * Crew 70 (Mar. 30 - Apr. 12, 2008) - Shing-Yik Yim (Boris), Commander
    * Crew 71 (Apr. 13 - Apr. 26, 2008) - All Hungarian Crew - Henrik Hargitai, Organizer