 "FMARS, Devon Island" (credit: The Mars Society UK) Image File history File links FMARS (C. The Mars Society) This work is copyrighted. ...
Image File history File links FMARS (C. The Mars Society) This work is copyrighted. ...
Overview
The Mars Analogue Research Station (MARS) Programme is an international effort spearheaded by The Mars Society to establish a network of prototype research centres where scientists and engineers can live and work as if they were on Mars, to develop the protocols and procedures that will be required for human operations on Mars, and to test equipment that may be carried and used by human mission to the Red Planet. The Mars Society is a space advocacy non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging the exploration and settlement of Mars. ...
Design Each of the MARS research centres comprises a prototype of the Mars Habitat Unit of the kind advocated in the Mars Direct and NASA Mars Design Reference Mission for sending human crews to Mars. Mars Habitat Unit (credit: The Mars Society UK) // Overview The Mars Habitat Unit forms a part of the Mars Direct humans-to-Mars mission concept first developed by Doctor Robert Zubrin and David Baker in the early 1990s. ...
Mars Direct is a proposal for a relatively low-cost manned mission to Mars with current rocket technology. ...
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These are multi-deck unit, providing a combination of living and working space for crews of up to 6 people at a time. Each unit is some 8 metres in diameter and stands some 9 to 11 metres in height, offering between two and three decks of interior living and working space.
Currently, three of these units have been constructed:
- One in the Canadian High Arctic (the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station)
- One in the high desert plateau of Utah (the Mars Desert Research Station)
- One due for deployment to Iceland (the European Mars Research Station).
The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) is one of four planned simulated Mars habitats (or Mars Analogue Research Station) maintained by the Mars Society. ...
Layout
 "MDRS" (credit: B.V. Maxwell) The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) and the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) are two-deck units, designed around a common layout. Image File history File links MDRS (C. B.V. Maxwell, 2002) (Assuming that this is the uploader) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links MDRS (C. B.V. Maxwell, 2002) (Assuming that this is the uploader) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) is a project operated by the Mars Society in collaboration with NASAs Haughton-Mars Project, to conduct geological and microbiological exploration under conditions similar to those found on Mars, to develop field tactics based on those explorations, to test habitat design features...
The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) is one of four planned simulated Mars habitats (or Mars Analogue Research Station) maintained by the Mars Society. ...
The upper deck is divided into two halves: one is given over to 6 individual sleeping cabins that provide visiting crew members with a bed, personal storage space and privacy when they need it. The other half of the upper deck is devoted to a common work area / dining area / food preparation area. In the ceiling space above this is the unit's large water tank, containing all of the habitat's usable water (this is resupplied from an additional tank outside of the unit. However, on a real mission, the water would be recycled after use, and possibly augmented by water obtained via extraction from the Martian permafrost. This article is about frozen ground. ...
The lower deck contains a open-plan work area where a variety of science and engineering tasks can be performed. It also contains the main hygiene area (toilet, washbasin and shower), and contains the main power distribution system for the habitat and the heating system. Heat and power are supplied by external generators, but on a real mission to Mars they would most likely be supplied using the a combination of nuclear and possibly solar power. However, due to the extremes of dust contamination, soalr panels will not supply sufficient energy to power a Habitat on Mars on their own.
Also on the lower deck of the FMARS and MDRS are the airlocks and the Extra-vehicular Activity preparation room (EVA prep room). This is where crew members don and doff their simulated Mars spacesuits prior to leaving the Habitat Unit. Astronaut Bruce McCandless on an untethered EVA Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth and outside of his or her spacecraft. ...
The European Mars Analog Research Station is slightly different to FMARS and MDRS, in that it provides three decks:
Image:Rendering2.jpg The European Mars Analogue Research Station (Euro-MARS) is the third in the Mars Societys Analogue Research Stations. ...
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- The uppermost desk contains sleeping quarters for the 6-person crew, and storage space for on-board systems and / or additional equipment
- The mid-deck provides a dedicated communications centre / solar storm shelter, a galley, exercise area, storage bins and a living / working area, and hygiene facilities
- The lower deck provides two micro laboratories, a main repair / medical treatment area, 2 airlocks and an EVA prep area.
The European unit has been deliberately designed for expansion - additional equipment and technology, such as water recycling systems, can be added to the unit as they become available.
Operational Goals The primary goal of the MARS programme is to research the operational environment of a base on Mars. As such, the programme is specifically geared towards answering a wide range of key questions about living and working on Mars, including: - What is the best number for an exploratory team on Mars - four people, six people, more?
- How well do support systems and equipment function “in the field”?
- What are the best designs for EVA suits?
- How easy is it to maintain equipment in isolated conditions?
- How are group dynamics going to operate in such a closed environment?
In order to find answers to these and other questions, MARS teams will: - Perform a wide range of EVA and scientific experiments of the kind that will be performed on Mars
- Test communications equipment, EVA suit designs, portable life support facilities and other elements crucial to a human expedition to Mars
 "MARS EVA Operations" (credit: Charles Frankel, 2001) - Learn to conduct extended EVA sorties using vehicles such as unpressurised ATVs and analogues of pressurised rover vehicles that can operate away from the main base for days at a time
- Find out the optimum means of carrying out surface investigations – how many people need to be on an EVA mission in order to make it effective, etc.
In order to achieve these goals, operations at the Habitat Units are performed under "Mars simulation" conditions. This means that once a crew is in a unit, barring a serious medical event or emergency, they live and work as astronauts would on Mars: Image File history File links EVA Operations (C. Charles Frankel, 2001) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links EVA Operations (C. Charles Frankel, 2001) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
- They cannot leave the unit without donning a simulated space suit
- They cannot communicate directly with anyone outside of the unit without a built-in time delay in the communication - the distance between Earth and Mars makes direct conversation impossible
- They can only use the equipment, tools and food available to them inside the habitat.
Each crew spends between 2 weeks and a month living in a habitat unit, performing the kind of work astronauts will be expected to carry out on Mars: collecting rock samples from the surface and examining them back in the habitat; conducting life science experiments; studying the local geology and geomorphology, and so on.
See also Mars Many people believe that space colonization is a desirable and perhaps inevitable step in the future of humanity. ...
The European Mars Analogue Research Station (Euro-MARS) is the third in the Mars Societys Analogue Research Stations. ...
The Australia Mars Analog Research Station (MARS-Oz) is a project being planned by the Mars Society to conduct geological exploration under constraints similar to those found on Mars, to develop field tactics based on those explorations, to test habitat design features and tools, and to assess crew selection protocols. ...
External links - The Mars Society
- The Mars Society UK
- Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station
- Mars Desert Research Station
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