The Mars Analog Research Station (MARS) project is conceived as a multi-year, phased project to enable distribution of the required budget over a period of time. In addition, phasing the project provides us the flexibility to incorporate design changes and new technologies in response to knowledge gained each field season.

The first step in this plan was accomplished in 2000 with the construction on Devon Island of the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station. In the summer of 2001, Flashline will be operated for two months in Mars operations simulation mode. Also, in 2001, we will be developing an analog pressurized rover that can be used either independently or in combination with Flashline or other MARS project field stations. Work on the first of these other units, in the American southwest, will also begin in 2001, with the commencement of associated simulation operations planned for January 2002. Then in 2002 and 2003, two more stations will be established; one in the basaltic and geothermally active deserts of Iceland, and the other in the Australian outback, whose ancient deserts contain fossils which date from the same period when Mars' surface ran with liquid water.

Each of these additional stations offers unique new advantages to the MARS program. Because of its ease of access, the American station is the ideal place to serve as a test bed for equipment that will later be sent to more remote and unforgiving locations. For the same reason, the American station is the best place to begin long-duration isolation experiments. With its geothermally active areas, Iceland best simulates areas on Mars where life might be found today, and thus it is the optimum location to practice Mars exobiology field work. In addition, with its European location, Iceland is well situated to act as a place from which the MARS project can act to inspire the European public with the challenge of the modern age's New World. Finally, Australia's ancient fossils are among the oldest records of life on Earth, and as such may mirror the kind of traces that life may have left on Mars. In learning how to look for such remnants within the constraints faced by Mars explorers, we will be teaching ourselves how to search for the record of the origin of life on our neighboring world.

Return to the About MDRS Index