NOTICE: While we appreciate your interest in MDRS, we are currently closed to all but scheduled crews due to COVID 19. We are not able to offer tours or visits at this time. We thank you for your understanding, and hope you and your family remain safe and well during this pandemic.

Our Mission

Campus

MDRS Observatories

Management Team

Mission Support

The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), owned and operated by the Mars

Society, is a space analog facility in Utah that supports Earth-based

research in pursuit of the technology, operations, and science

required for human space exploration. We host an eight month field

season for professional scientists and engineers as well as college

students of all levels, in training for human operations specifically

on Mars. The relative isolation of the facility allows for rigorous

field studies as well as human factors research. Most crews carry out

their mission under the constraints of a simulated Mars mission. Most

missions are 2-3 weeks in duration, although we have supported longer

missions as well. The advantage of MDRS over most facilities for

simulated space missions is that the campus is surrounded by a

landscape that is an actual geologic Mars analog, which offers

opportunities for rigorous field studies as they would be conducted

during an actual space mission.

Campus

The MDRS campus includes six structures. The habitat (Hab) is a two

story 8 meter in diameter cylindrical building constructed in 2001.

It can house seven crewmembers at one time. The structure has been

undergoing a refurbishment over the last few years. The lower deck

houses the EVA prep room with the spacesuit simulators, an exterior

airlock, a shower room, toilet room and a rear airlock leading to

tunnels, which access other structures. The upper deck houses the

living quarters, which include a common work/living area, fully

operational kitchen and seven staterooms with bunks. Six of the

staterooms are on the main floor, a seventh is housed in the loft.

There are two observatories on campus. The Robotic Observatory houses

a 14″ Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope on a CGE pro equatorial

mount. Attached is a 4″ refractor, which is used as a guide scope.

Either telescope can utilize a wide array of cameras for astronomical

imaging. The telescope is housed in a 7.5 foot automated dome that

can be controlled on site or from the habitat module. The Musk

Observatory, formerly the only observatory on campus, has been

converted into a solar observatory for use by crews.

More about the MDRS Observatories

The GreenHab was fully funded by donations. It is a 12” by 24” foot

structure, housing both conventional and aquaponic growing systems, in

addition to space devoted to crop research studies. It is climate

controlled though a propane heater and swamp cooler, and has broad

spectrum grow lights of additional light during the winter months.

The Science Dome is a 7-meter in diameter geodesic dome that contains

our solar system’s control center and is a functional microbiological

and geological laboratory.

The RAMM (Repair and Maintenance Module) is our newest building, and

will be on site before the beginning of 2018. A refitted Chinook

helicopter, this spectacular addition to the campus can house an

ATV/rover for repairs and will be used for engineering research.

All of the structures with the exception of the Robotic Observatory

are linked with the Hab via above ground tunnels to allow participants

to utilize these buildings while remaining in simulation. The campus

is powered by a 15 kW solar system that feeds a 12 kW battery bank

that provides power to everything. A 12 kW generator autostarts when

the campus uses more power than the solar can provide in the winter

months.

Crews occupying the station are fully supported. The station is

operational with all systems functional during their stay.

Shelf-stable foods such as those used on space missions are supplied

for each crew. Additional support equipment includes five All Terrain

Vehicles and four all electric two person Polaris Rangers for field

transportation, as well as a 4 wheel drive SUV. The director lives on

site and manages the station and operations. In addition, there are a

host of volunteer teams supporting all aspects of the work that is

done at the station, including peer review of all research proposals

and supporting crews via offsite Mission Support.

MDRS began operations in 2001 as a fully volunteer enterprise. Over

1,000 people have participated as crew and many are now involved in

other analog studies at different places around the world. Thousands

of other people have supported our mission in many other ways, all of

them dedicated to the idea of sending humans to Mars.

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