Mars on Earth: Tests in Desert of Oman

Two scientists work together to test a geo-radar that was built to make a map of the planet Mars. They pull the flat box across rocky, sandy ground. They are wearing spacesuits, just like astronauts do in space. The bright white on their protective equipment stands out against the color of the sand and dirt.

When the geo-radar stops working, the two walk back to their vehicles and use a radio to contact scientists at a nearby base camp for guidance. They are unable to speak directly with their command station, which is far away in the European Alps. Communications from there are delayed 10 minutes.

The scientists are not on the planet Mars. They are in a desert in southern Oman, near the borders of Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The desert looks so much like Mars that scientists chose it to field-test technology for a manned space flight to the red planet

Efforts to send astronauts to Mars

The United States government and a few American companies have established programs to send astronauts to Mars. Former U.S. President Barack Obama and SpaceX founder Elon Musk have both declared that astronauts would walk on the planet in just a few decades.

China is joining the U.S. and Russia in space with its own Mars program. And aerospace companies like Blue Origin have published plans for future bases, ships and spacesuits.

Last week’s successful launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket “puts us in a completely different realm of what we can put into deep space,” says Kartik Kumar. He is an analog astronaut.

Analog astronauts carry out tests in preparation for a Mars space flight. The next step after the rocket test, Kumar says, is to deal with non-engineering problems, such as how to react to a medical emergency in space.

“These are things I think can’t be underestimated,” Kumar noted.

Testing for possible Mars mission

Most of the work to prepare for interplanetary trips is being done on Earth. Our planet’s deserts provide some of the best environments to field-test equipment and people for the trip to Mars.

From space, the Dhofar Desert is a flat, brown area. Few animals or plants can survive in this part of the Arabian Peninsula. Temperatures can top 51 degrees Celsius.

On the eastern edge of a seemingly endless sand dune is the Oman Mars Base. The base is a huge, self-contained area in which people live and work. It is surrounded by shipping containers, which serve as laboratories and living space for the crew.

The desert’s surface looks so much like Mars that it can be hard to tell the difference, Kumar said. Its salt domes and riverbeds, he said, look like “a lot of what we see on Mars.”

Oman’s government offered to host the Austrian Space Forum’s next Mars simulation. The offer came at a meeting of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

Gernot Groemer, commander of the Oman Mars simulation, said his group quickly accepted.

Scientists from across the world sent ideas for experiments. The project quickly grew to 16 scientific experiments, including testing a new spacesuit called Aouda.

The spacesuit weighs about 50 kilograms. It is called a “personal spaceship” because one can breathe, eat and do complex science inside of it. The suit’s visor can show maps, communications and sensor information.