Operated by the privately funded Mars Society, the MDRS exists ‘to give a platform for scientific research as to what life is like on Mars and to prove to larger space agencies that Mars is a viable option’, Artemis Westenberg, ‘What we need to know is not whether a pilot can stand the stress of space, but can scientists do it and not lose their creativity at the same time?’ At the MDRS they get the chance to find out.
Security is tight at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) 750 miles away in Pasadena, just outside Los Angeles. This is where Nasa was born, where America’s first satellite was built, and it’s home to the agency’s push to Mars. Some 5,000 people work here. John Callas, project manager of Nasa’s Mars exploration rovers, is adamant about why we should be interested in exploring Mars. ‘Because scientifically Mars is the most Earth-like planet in our solar system,’ he explains. ‘We now know it once had water and a thicker atmosphere more like ours. Like the Earth, it’s also tilted on its axis, has four distinct annual seasons, poles at the northern and southern tips, and polar caps. Of any other planet, Mars has the greatest potential to have supported life, and could be supporting life today.’ The evidence Nasa is amassing in the search for that life, including the recent discovery of methane there, is compelling. ‘Living creatures produce methane,’ says Callas, ‘and it’s one of the building blocks for life.’