Mars Society Simulation: Preparing for Humanity's Future on Mars

To become a Martian colonist, I first had to fill out a Google Form. It asked about my aviation know-how, medical training, and experience in extreme environments. I sheepishly wrote 'N/A' each time, adding a note about my cooking and social skills. It turned out that this was okay: I was only going to Utah, and the organization running the show was the Mars Society, a nonprofit founded in 1998 by aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin. The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), opened in 2002, is a simulated Martian settlement located in rural southeastern Utah, designed to resemble Mars while remaining accessible.

I was accepted into a crew in late 2024, but our plans were quickly disrupted when the commander stopped replying to emails. A month before our scheduled departure, the mission was called off. Fortunately, another crew was forming, and I managed to join them for a later mission. The commander, Dave, was a founding member of the Mars Society. He welcomed me with a photo of himself in aviator sunglasses, holding a troll doll in front of the habitat where we would live.

The MDRS is the longest-running Martian habitat, with over 300 crews having participated. While other simulations, like those in Hawaii or Moscow, last months or even a year, the Mars Society’s are typically two weeks long. Participants often conduct perfunctory research, such as testing gadgets or mimicking fieldwork. Most are graduate students or Mars enthusiasts who pay between $2,000 and $3,500 to attend, with only a few having ever been to space.

In the months before the mission, I attended Zoom meetings with my crew members. The team included professionals, retirees, and myself, the crew journalist. Our mission, Crew 315, was called Crew Phoenix, symbolizing rebirth. We prepared research proposals for our two-week stay, with my own being rudimentary, such as collecting desiccated soil samples to study potential Martian life.