So you want to go to Mars and you know you have to train to live in that hostile terrain. Where do you go to train for that – apparently Utah! Utah’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), run by the Mars Society is giving future Mars visitors an idea of what they will have to face while walking through stands of Ericameria nauseosa and Epehdra viridis.

The Mars Desert Research Station was constructed in 2002 and has been continuously visited by a wide range of researchers, including astrobiologists, soil scientists, journalists, engineers, and geologists. The researchers practice collecting fungi, algae, cyanobacteria, lichens, and vascular plants from the grounds in simulated research. The suits restrict their vision and movement just as it would be on Mars.

At present they may be simply donning spacesuits and play acting about being on Mars but the working conditions on the Red Planet are likely to be rather similar to what these people are doing right now. It’s a matter of getting used to the type of science projects that they will be involved in, if they make it through the program and land up as the first colonisers of Mars.