Mars Analogue Research Station Programme

The Mars Analog Research Station Program (MARS) is an international effort spearheaded by The Mars Society to establish a network of prototype research centers where scientists and engineers can live and work as if they were on Mars, to develop the protocols and procedures that will be required for human operations on Mars, and to test equipment that may be carried and used by human missions to the Red Planet.

The first station, the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) began operation in 2000 on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. The second station, the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) began operation in 2002 in southern Utah. Stations to be built in Europe (European Mars Analog Research Station / EuroMARS) and Australia (Australia Mars Analog Research Station / MARS-Oz) have not progressed beyond the planning stages. EuroMARS was planned for deployment in Iceland. A structure for EuroMARS was built, but placed in storage for several years due to lack of funding to ship to the Society's UK headquarters, and from there on to Iceland. During storage and shipping the structure was damaged beyond repair, so now the European chapters of the Mars Society are seeking funding to build a new habitat. The fourth station, MARS-Oz, has been designed, but lacks funding for construction.

Each of the MARS research centers comprises a prototype of the Mars Habitat Unit of the kind advocated in the Mars Direct and NASA Mars Design Reference Mission for sending human crews to Mars.

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