Most people, when kids, dreamed about being astronauts.
The idea of going into space, visiting the Moon or other far-off places, is something that captivates the imagination.
Well, some folks out in the Utah desert are getting to live out their dreams – sort of.
The Mars Desert Research Station is a facility near Hanksville, Utah, that mimics a Martian base.
'Astronauts' go to the base for weeks at a time, living in conditions that could replicate what they'd face were they on Mars.
The station is run by the Mars Society, a group dedicated to the possibility of exploring and eventually settling our celestial neighbor.
"The location [in Utah] was chosen because, although it's a lot warmer than the surface of Mars, the terrain and its appearance is very much like the surface," according to Susan Holden Martin, the former executive director of the Mars Society and a current member of its steering committee. "When you're standing there at the habitat and looking around, you can very well imagine yourself, what it would be like if you were standing on the planet."
She told KNPR's State of Nevada that Mars has been a focus of interest because prevailing wisdom dictated it was the most likely planet in the Solar System to have already available resources for settling -- things like materials for building habitats and the like. That way, travelers would not have to bring as much with them when going to the Red Planet.
The researchers who travel to the base conduct a variety of science experiments, depending on their interests.
"I've observed biology, geology, astrophotography, astronomy & many other types of research science [there]," she said.
Along with the Mars Desert Research Station, the Mars Society operates a base on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. Martin, who is also working on a series of space-related books and films with historian Rod Pyle, said the base on the largest uninhabited island on earth allows researchers to study voyages to Mars in weather conditions more closely resembling those on the planet itself.
Susan Holden Martin, steering committee, Mars Society
