I'm sure that the simulated Mars colony in Hanksville, Utah has its heart in the right place and it does look kind of cool from the outside.
Inside, however, it is less than impressive; looking more like the sort of site huts that I kicked around in during my archaeology days. Somehow, I doubt that plywood will be a major construction material on Mars, nor do I think that hammers and nails will be in great demand.
But my favourite is the fact that the "astronauts" don "spacesuits" before doing an "EVA", or as we call it on earth, putting on silly overalls before going outside. No doubt it's all jolly fun, but wake me when they relocate the camp to the top of Mount Everest or the bottom of Lake Superior and then I'll be more impressed.
2 comments:
The first Mars hab was located in the Canadian Arctic. That location was somewhat Mars-like: very cold, and almost no precipitation or vegetation. The second one was built in Utah specifically so that it could attract more publicity, since asking reporters to travel all the way to the middle of nowhere wasn't working so well.
i think your looking at it wrong.
i've actually been there with the Civil Air Patrol one summer and had a great time!
of course it wasn't real. i mean do you really expect to see dinosour fossils, tree and plant fossils sticking out of the rock.
after about a day hike we see animals we never dreamed of, mud that you can almost walk, mineral formations, and mesa's that just throw it all in perspective.
this isn't a mars simulator, its not for training, its better then that.
as a teenager i was in a 'space suit' talking on the mike to another suit about 10 feet behind me.
this isn't a great mars simulator, but i've never in my life been able to relive anything from that week. when you can pick up the minerals that you learn about in school, see to scale the dinosours still in the rock. it is amazing, and i will never forget it.
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