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In 2005, I returned to the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), a Mars-base analog simulation facility located in the most Mars-like area of the Utah desert. This time I was the mission commander, responsible for everything from crew selection and training to research planning to running the actual mission on site. Crew 37 was the first crew from a single academic institution - Georgia Tech! Go Jackets :-)
Here are a few pictures of the experience; many more are in my Google Photos album. Links to more information can be found at the bottom of this page.
Don't forget to check out my 2003 mission to the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station near the North Pole, and my other adventures at MDRS: Crew 5 in 2002, and Crew 47 in 2006.
Please contact me if you want full-resolution versions or if you plan to use any of these pictures.
The Mars Desert Research Station in southwestern Utah (38.406449N 110.791912W)
Aerial view of the Mars Desert Research Station
MDRS consists of the main hab (center), a greenhouse for life-support systems research (right), and an observatory (left).
Crew 37 inside MDRS
Crewmembers entering the airlock
Taking in the area around the hab
The 10-ft helium balloon that we used to fly a radio repeater
Mysterious gargoyles on "Phobos Peak"
Heidi and Rebecca enjoying the view
Taking glamo(u)r shots for the 2005 European Mars Society Convention poster
MDRS Crew 37 - On to Mars!
Setting up camp during the overnight training/selection hike
I had a blast :-)
More Information
Poster on the MDRS Crew 37 experience, presented at a 2006 spaceflight conference (PDF, 6 MB)
Crew 37 final report (PDF, 1.7 MB)
Crew 37 post-mission summary (PDF, 186 kB)
Waypoint and route database in MS Excel and Google Earth formats
Summary of History Channel "Modern Marvels - Future Tech" episode (Season 12 Episode 32) that covered our mission
Crew 37 information and dispatches on the MDRS 2005 website (at archive.org)
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