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Earth as a Classroom - Team BlogsJoin us as we explore "Mars on Earth" from the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station on Devon Island. |
NASA artist's concept from the mid-1980s of a Mars base equipped with greenhouses
So far, humans have only visited another world (the Moon) a half a dozen times. The longest visit to the lunar surface was three days. On short trips like these, you can afford to bring all the supplies you need - air, food, water, etc. and leave things behind when you are done with them. And of course, the trip home only takes several days.
Devon Island is located in the Territory of Nunavut in Canada less than a thousand miles from the North Pole. Devon Island is also the largest uninhabited island on Earth, with a surface area of approximately 66,800 square kilometers.
While this remote island does have some musk oxen, small birds and mammals - and some plant life, in many places, there is almost no easily visible life at all. In those places, the surface looks very much like what our robots have seen on Mars. This is one of the reasons why many scientists and engineers find Devon Island a useful place to do research that will help us explore Mars (and the Moon) one day.
