Copyright 2005 by Jan Osburg. Published by The Mars Society with permission. SIMULATING MARS ON EARTH: CREW 37 AT THE MARS DESERT RESEARCH STATION

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.658.7576; http://marspapers.org/papers/Osburg_2005.pdf

The Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) provides a unique environment for simulating planetary surface exploration activities. It enables the field testing and development of systems and procedures in an integrated environment that includes a human crew. It also allows participants to get invaluable first-hand experience with this type of operation. MDRS Crew 37 consisted of eight members of the Mars Society @ Georgia Tech, which is the Georgia Tech student chapter of the Mars Society, and the chapter’s faculty advisor as mission commander. This was the first time that a single academic institution had fielded a complete analog-facility crew, which among other advantages enabled us to conduct extensive pre-mission familiarization and training. Along with an extensive research effort, an outreach program covered Internet presence, interaction with local, national and international print and broadcast media, and auxiliary mission support activities by high schools and members of the Georgia Tech campus community. OVERVIEW This report documents the mission of the thirty-seventh crew at the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station. The present chapter provides an overview of the station (adapted from a previous publication, [27]), introduces the crew, and outlines the timeline of the project. Subsequent chapters will document the research, engineering and outreach efforts and summarize lessons learned for future missions. Mars Desert Research Station The Mars Society [35], an international association of space scientists, engineers and others interested in advancing the case for sending humans to Mars, has built two Mars-analog stations in remote environments. These facilities are privately funded, through contributions from Mars Society members and corporate donors. The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, FMARS, was built in 2000/2001 and is located on