Life on Mars

FMARS: Bringing the Red Planet to the Arctic

With the prospect of man on Mars drawing ever closer, the scientific world is steadily preparing. Not just with simulators in artificial buildings, either. The Mars Society is making use of our own home to prepare space experts for the intimidating prospect of the Red Planet. Every two years, the Mars Society sends a team to the Arctic Circle on a research mission, centred around Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) – a unique research point at Haughton Crater on the formidable Devon Island.

Devon Island is located in Baffin Bay, in northernmost Canada. It is the world’s largest uninhabited island. Chosen as the closest habitat on Earth to Mars, Devon Island presents a challenging environment to say the least. Winter temperatures can be as low as -50 degrees Celsius, and with a polar ecology there is very little precipitation. Even the lowlands of the island only support a small number of oxen and small birds, with characteristically sparse Arctic vegetation.

With conditions challenging flora and fauna to this extent, the island is an intimidating prospect that most humans will never experience. Commercial airlines will only fly to Resolute, an Inuit town with a population of 229, where the average annual temperature is -16 degrees. Resolute is still 200 miles away, on neighbouring Cornwallis Island.

The FMARS team

The most recent team to brave FMARS on the island was the 2009 mission team, who sacrificed a traditional summer to head to the sub-zero climate in mid July. The team of six – 3 male, 3 female – responded to a volunteer advertisement, before passing through a competitive selection process.

Brian Shiro, one of the successful six, said he was “thrilled” to be selected. He recalled: “When I responded to the Mars Society’s call for volunteers back in March, I thought I had a good chance of being selected but knew there would be some stiff competition.”

Shiro was selected for his expertise in physical and seismic science, which he combines with a keen interest in planetary research. Aside from his CV credentials, though, the geophysicist also calls himself “An explorer who thirsts for adventure through travel and outdoor activity.”

He kept a diary throughout the mission program, which provides a unique insight into the challenges of the experience for the team. His unique roles were based around his specialty area of seismic research. With the help of his team, he conducted research to search for groundwater – a task that scientists are eager to transfer to Mars. He also worked on documenting the mission using photographic and geological surveys.

Flying on Mars

If this all sounds a bit too scientific, there was a notable perk: the team used an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to do this. As Shiro commented: “How many people can say they’ve piloted an aircraft on Mars?”

Another cutting edge method of recording used on the 2009 mission was ‘EVA maps’. An EVA is an extra-vehicular activity, a work done by an astronaut outside of their spacecraft. For EVAs to be useful, astronauts must adapt as quickly as possible to an often difficult environment – a task which was replicated for the FMARS team. The EVA maps created by Shiro provide a combination of physical and physiologically information. Shiro explained: “These [the maps] are more than mere geographic illustrations, since they include georeferenced photos, heart rate and other information.”

Even with a toolbox that reads like a gadget-lovers dream, the EVAs were physically challenging. With fitness exercises forming part of the rigorous training process leading up to the mission, the team were physically prepared. However, with limited equipment and space – at the FMARS hub, they soon felt the counteracting effects of working out less throughout the mission.?Shiro recalled: “I definitely felt the effects of physical deconditioning in my body when I returned home, much like real astronauts do when they come back from a space mission.”

Simulated spacesuits

Despite this added obstacle, however, the EVAs were deemed a success in a summary of the 2009 mission. Shiro himself managed a record: “I logged 28 hours, 53 minutes in the space suit on FMARS EVAs, and covered a distance of 80.5km.” The crew achieved a cumulative 106 hours and 323km of EVA activity.?Challenges were not limited to exertion, though, with some of the psychological tests of space travel being aptly represented in the habitat simulation.

From a diary entry made in his first week ‘on Mars’, Shiro describes the isolation his first experience of wearing a space suit: “When I first put on the simulated space helmet, I was immediately struck by how isolating it felt. I couldn’t hear the others very well, and had to use the radio to communicate. All I had to keep me company was the sound of my own breathing. This led to frequent fogging of the helmet dome since we didn’t have time to put defogger on it. When I stepped outside, I half expected to bounce on the ground as if I was in the 1/3 gravity environment of Mars.”

The press release given by The Mars Society after the return of the crew marked the mission as a resounding success. It praised Shiro and the rest of team for having achieved major mission objectives, whilst managing to “overcome hardships imposed by the harsh arctic weather, extreme isolation, limited supplies and equipment, and the self-imposed restrictions of the formal Mars stimulation.”

Laser research

One finding that emerged from mission data was strong support for the use of laser therapy in muscle recovery. During the mission, the crew both conducted and acted as subjects in a research study, with focused laser treatment administered on before and after each EVA. Working by causing deep heating and vasodilatation, the therapy was found to aid muscular preparation pre-exertion, and recovery afterwards. This support for the treatment may lead to its increased use on astronauts and sportsmen alike – an example of the applicable nature of research conducted at FMARS.

The FMARS missions are implemented in the hope that they will build up a comprehensive volume of research, to stand astronauts in good stead for an actual Mars mission. The intimidating Arctic environment of the FMARS hab, out of the reach of commercial airlines, stretching man’s physical and psychological boundaries, serves as a reminder to any jaded challenge-junkie. Whilst most of us may not have much chance of joining an FMARS mission, the trials at Devon Island are a striking example that our home planet still has a whole lot of challenges in store. And Brian Shiro? Devon Island isn't the last stop on the way to Mars for him. He's due to command another simulated mission – this time in the unforgiving deserts of Utah – in January.

For more information on FMARS or past missions visit: http://www.fmars2009.org

For the complete collection of Brian Shiro’s ‘Letters from Mars’:? http://www.astronautforhire.com