Now I can really imagine how the first martian colonists or explorers will feel. I came here with the intention to 'do some science' under the conditions of a manned Mars mission simulation. I had a couple more experiments in mind, but not everything was possible to realize on Analog Mars; some experiments simply weren't possible because the type of laboratory equipment they require isn't available here.

The Surroundings:

But now that I am here everything is different, the desert, not just rocks and loads of sand but a wonderful landscape wherever you look: Skyline Rim, Factory Butte, White Rock Canyon or Muddy Creek, just to name a few places near here that are really unique in their beauty. And there is still so much in between, canyons, washes, mesas, ridges and cliffs with and without names, all of them burned into my memory even if I have seen most of them just through the dusty faceshield of a spacesuit helmet.

The Simulation and Going Out:

The mission simulation, not just a jump-into-your-spacesuit-and-put-on- a-helmet-for-going-for-a-walk-thing, but a high-fidelity simulation, within the constraints of a NASA reference mission and a protocol to avoid DCS (DeCompression Sickness). Something I wouldn't have imagined being that complicated, but if you read through the scientific background information you will understand what is behind all this: the donning of your spacesuit takes at least 30 minutes until everything is prepared (boots, gloves, suit and all links between them, backpack with air and watersupply, their connection to your helmet, radio with headset and following com-check, eye and hair protection, all the tools and equipment parts for science and safety stowed away securely, fitting of the backpack and the helmet...) to enter the airlock for the prebreathe period of another 30 minutes (this is the minimum possible under optimum conditions) before you get the chance to set foot on the soil of analog Mars. And if you do you can't just walk or drive around, there is always the consumables capacity of your backpack to consider and you will have to know if you will be able to safely walk back to the Hab. If you are driving, this is especially important because if your ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) breaks down you will have to be able to make it back to the Hab on foot within time, so no chance for just going somewhere and coming back just before your consumables are gone. This demands careful planning of the route you will take, considering topography, the presence of roads or tracks and the level of experience with (and information on) the route you will take.

The Simulation and Staying Inside:

Additionally there are the rules for not going out: one hour of exercise (sports or anything comparable) is necessary at least, if not going on a mission outside the Hab. But you better not expect a gym within the Hab. For your exercise you will have to chose between kitchen, living room and workspace (which is all the same) or the laboratory which offers a bit more room but is as well suited for that as the rest of the Hab. And you had better not get too sweaty because water is something thats very limited and you just have a so-called navy shower (get wet, turn off water, scrub yourself, rinse) every other day.

This way you get a real feeling for how it would be to live on a station right on the surface of Mars, what the limitations and constraints on your mobility and daily routines would be... Living in this Station is not simply sharing the available space with 6 other people (the station is designed for 6 people but we are a crew of 7). Its sharing all the work that has to be done in and around the station (network, generator/electricity, GreenHab, drinking- and wastewater system checks and maintainance; cooking, dishwashing, cleaning and tidying up) and sharing your spare time - if any - with the rest of your crewcolleagues. You cannot go too far without standing right before an airlock if you want to get away.

Science:

Everybody came here with certain scientific objectives in mind, but when you are here almost everything is different. For all those activities that have to be outdoors, for example sample collection, exposure of samples to the environment or the setting up of scientific devices, you have to plan when to do that, if it is necessary to do that yourself, and you won't have a possibility to go outside every time you want to and especially not every day. So sometimes you will have to find somebody who is able and willing to do that for you, even if you will have a field geologist handling microbiological experiments. Or a scouting mission will also be relevant for different fields of research: in our case the search for salt abundance, for water and for depositional environments where the soil is thickest, while marking waypoints of tested tracks to be able to navigate around quicker to scout regions farther away fron the station.

You will have to be aware of the possibilities the hab offers for preparation or storage of your equipment or experiments, and considering the duties and simulation constraints you have on the station, how they will influence your time and ability to handle, prepare or conduct your experiments. If conducting any experiments outside one has to be prepared to handle his or her equipment with the limitation of wearing spacesuit gloves that will make everything a little bit more difficult - you lose a lot of the feeling and dexterity your fingers normally have. So during most outdoors experiment you will probably have to rely on your crew colleagues to make something work even if they are from a completely different field of science, on the other hand you will have the possibility to work in various fields of research and have a chance to get more insight into other fields of research.

Reports and Routine:

When we came here it was almost night, the Hab was locked, there was no power and therefore no systems running, so the first real challenge was to get at least those things running we needed to take over the Hab. After mastering this challenge we made ourselves comfortable in the Hab and slowly during the following two days learned our responsibilities and ways around in the Hab before we went into full simulation. Everyone got used to the routine of doing his/her work quite quickly and also the reporting of the day's doings to Mission Support (our only contact to Earth via email and satellite modem with a response delay to simulate the distance between Mars and Earth after going into full simulation), the writing of reports on almost everything we did or checked, for everything from temperature check in the GreenHab to a full report of a 6-hour EVA. Sadly not all systems were still in a state that made it possible to take them into operation: we tried to revive the GreenHab which would have been my responsibility but all efforts we made had no acceptable result and we decided to shut the system down after trying almost everything - going through all the reports, manuals and other information we got from mission support:

The Crew:

I didn't know much about most of the crewmembers when we came here, not even about their professions, just what one could easily find out within a few minutes and what I knew about their responsibility and function in MDRS. It is an international team consisting of people from different fields of scientific knowledge and activity. I expected at least a few discussions or arguments over something that might be of concern to all of us and at least a few rules set up by our commander out of necessity that wouldn't be welcomed by everybody. Nothing like that, absolutely nothing! This is a great crew and if I didn't know better, I'd say it has been carefully selected and assembled for just this mission. It's wonderful to work and live here with this crew and I really can't believe there are not even two days of simulation left.

The Experience:

I expected to get the possibitlity to conduct some experiments in a Mars analog region and to be able to find out a bit about the halophilic members of the local microbial communities by taking a few samples while pretending to be on Mars, but I found out what it would be like to research and live (and interact with a scientific backroom and crew colleagues) on Mars even if just for a short period of time. Anyhow, now I know how it would probably be to live and work on Mars and there is something I can now tell: Its a great experience and told me a lot about living under extreme conditions (isolation, 'dangerous' environment), working together in a small team and about myself. Also I had a great time at scouting, exploring, experiencing and especially enjoying the MDRS and its wonderful and interesting surroundings. And what I would never have expected was that there were so many interesting sites in a 'plain desert' and that this high-fidelity simulation would tell me that much about life (on Mars).

The Future:

I will do anything that's possible for me to further the ultimate goal of settling Mars and hope that I will get the chance to continue my research here or maybe at FMARS or EuroMARS, with and for the Mars Society.

I still hope that I might get the chance to set foot on Mars myself, especially now that I have an idea how this would be. But if its not for me to be one of those lucky ones, I have at least done something to make the way, for those people who will get the chance, a little bit easier.