From 13-28 March 2004, an international crew of six people lived at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) and conducted a range of activities in fields such as human factors, medicine, habitat design and technology development all for the purpose of furthering our understanding of and preparation for an eventual crewed Mars mission.

The location of the  MDRS, the Utah desert, was chosen because it was a Martian 'analogue' environment ('analogues' being those environments possessing  characteristics similar to the one being mimicked).

This rotation was conducted under the banner of the Mars Society, a not for profit organisation whose sole purpose is to further mankind's knowledge of the red planet for the eventual purpose of colonisation. 

Please click on the links below for further details.

• Crew composition and biographies

• Articles on crew 26's stay           (Susmita Mohanty, Reece Lumsden)

• Mars Society

• Mars Desert Research Station

• Crew reports from 14-28 March 2004

• Crew Patch (designed by Heather Hava)

• Images from the rotation

"Mars Desert Research Station"

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