The fact that the project exists at all is an act of sheer willpower by Mars Institute scientist Pascal Lee.
When flying to the Haughton-Mars Project base, the primary impression is one of a vast wasteland below. The reddish expanse of dirt and rock looks featureless and bleak, but in fact holds many surprises for the uninitiated.
Paramount among these is the fact that this is a polar desert. While one expects an island within 15 degrees of the north pole to be icy and snow covered, there are only tiny patches of either here — they have melted away leaving small ponds and streams dotting the landscape. One of these ponds is our primary water source, where we drive every couple of days to replenish our supply.
Otherwise, the terrain is one of rolling, reddish hills; broad, rocky plains intersected by freeze-thaw features, some forming polygons ; and the occasional rift, butte, or terrace. The view would not be completely out of place in parts of Utah or Arizona, except that there would be plants in those places — scrub brush, cactus, and the occasional stunted tree. There would also be wildlife — birds, rabbits, and coyote.
Pascal Lee speaking at the at the First Landing Site/Exploration Zone Workshop for Human Missions to the Surface of Mars in 2015. The fact that the HMP exists at all is an act of sheer willpower on Pascal's part. He initially came up with the idea of siting a Mars analog base here as his first project out of graduate school. The site was selected for its general resemblance to Mars, but in particular due to its proximity to the
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Mars explorers could harvest oxygen from the atmosphere using plasmaAndrew is a freelance space journalist with a focus on reporting on China's rapidly growing space sector. He began writing for Space.com in 2019 and writes for SpaceNews, IEEE Spectrum, National Geographic, Sky & Telescope, New Scientist and others. Andrew first caught the space bug when, as a youngster, he saw Voyager images of other worlds in our solar system for the first time. Away from space, Andrew enjoys trail running in the forests of Finland. You can follow him on Twitter AJ_FI.
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