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| All pics sourced from the official MDRS site. |
Despite this being a facility that is blatantly NEVER open to the public, I figured I still have to mention it just because it's such a unique thing located in the state of Utah. That being the Mars Desert Research Station.
Since 2001, the Mars Society in conjunction with SETI and with funding from NASA, operates the facility as a full-fledged simulation, for professional scientists, engineers and college students. For 8 months surrounding the winter side of the year, they host "missions" that last in duration of about 2-3 weeks at a time. The facility in Utah is the 2nd of four planned sites for such experiments. The first was located in Haughton Impact Crater in northern Canada, the others being planned to be constructed in Iceland (called EuroMARS) and Australia (called MARS-Oz).
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| Floor plan of the habitat building. |
The location was chosen not only for it's red rocks, but for it's isolation as well, to ensure a more immersive experience for the simulated Mars mission. The facility has six structures, two of which included the simulated Mars habitat, two others comprise of observatories, a Science Dome that houses some laboratories, as well as a Repair and Maintenance Module, that is to house a rover and it's support facilities.
The isolation of the experiment is taken very seriously with the entire facility being self-sufficient and closed off from the outside. The crew during the simulated mission will stay there with the same food packs as used in actual space missions. The whole facility is powered by solar power and batteries with a generator backup in case of emergencies.
http://mdrs.marssociety.org/
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mars-desert-research-station
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| Just plain cool work being done out there. |
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