elizabethhowell

Hi everyone, thanks for writing! To answer your questions:

What signs of life would you search for on Mars?

Generally signs of microbial life is what researchers are looking for. The Curiosity rover is looking for habitable environments that could have hosted life (but bear in mind it can't find life itself). It and other Mars rovers have found a lot of evidence for water, and water is often a spot where life forms. Another thing that could be good to find is something called a hydrothermal vent, a sort of hot spring where bacteria could thrive.

How long would a mission to Mars take?

It would take years or maybe decades to build the mission and then months to fly there and back. And we haven't even talked about how long you want to spend on the surface yet! NASA and other agencies launch probes when the planets are fairly close to each other in their orbits, to cut down on travel time. This means, however, that it's best to launch to and from Mars only at certain times in the planet's orbit. So how long you spend on the surface would likely depend on when is the best time to leave the planet to get back to Earth.

What training do astronauts need to prepare for a mission to Mars?

They need to be able to do all sorts of things -- fix broken equipment, do medical procedures, perform scientific experiments, do public outreach to explain what they're doing to the public, and a host of other skills. They also have to be capable of flying themselves to and from the planet without a lot of outside help, as communications would take an average of 20 minutes to and from the planet due to the speed of light. This kind of training would take years of studying before you are selected as an astronaut, and years of training afterwards.

What do you do while on a space ship travelling to Mars?

A lot of the work would be maintaining the spacecraft, training for the landing and also performing any scientific experiments en route. You'd also need to be able to entertain yourself, however. It might be a good time to learn a musical instrument, read through a series of books or pick up a new language or two.

What types of food would you eat on a mission to Mars?

Likely shelf-stable food or dehydrated food that wouldn't go bad quickly, but if you were able to bring a greenhouse on site you might be able to plant some crops to bring you fresh food. This would depend, of course, on how warm the greenhouse could be and how well the plants could survive radiation on the surface.

What would be the mission goals on a mission to Mars?

The mission goals would likely be to learn more about why Mars is so different from Earth. Why is the atmosphere of Mars so thin? Where did the water go? Could it have hosted life in the past? If we can learn more about these questions on Mars, we can figure out more about Earth's history.

What would be the next step if you found life on Mars?

The next step would be first of all confirming that is indeed life. Then, if it is life, scientists would want to figure out what it is made of and how different it is from that of Earth.

What happens if you run out of a supply while on Mars?

You would have to build a substitute! This could be a real problem. On my own mission, we had a toilet paper shortage, which is not something you would want to have anywhere. We were careful, and we were okay, but bear in mind we were only there for two weeks. If it was several months, that would be a huge issue.

How would you keep in touch with people on Earth while on Mars?

Likely by e-mail or video communications. A phone call would be painful due to that 20-minute time delay I talked about.

How would the gravity be different on Mars?

It's 38% the gravity of Earth, which means you would feel a lot lighter. If you weighed 70 pounds on Earth, on Mars you would just weigh 27 pounds. Over long periods of time, as you become used to Mars gravity this could make it difficult to re-adapt to Earth's gravity. That's serious because it could affect your bone structure, your muscles and other parts of your body.

What type of shelter would you live in on Mars?

Likely a small habitat with not a lot of private space. You have to be on good terms with your crewmates to succeed!

What fears would astronauts have on a mission to Mars?

Astronauts are trained to deal with problems by following procedures, so although they might be afraid of something like a depressurization, they have ways of dealing with it. Probably their biggest fear would be not living up to the mission plan or not succeeding in what they planned to do.

You're very right that the temperatures and environment of Antarctica are far more representative of what we'd expect on Mars. It's cold, it's isolated and researchers typically spend months of time down their doing their work, which is more like a long-term space mission.

Getting to and from Antarctica, however, is expensive and time-consuming. While I can't speak for the Mars Society, I would suppose that as a non-profit they decided it would be easier to set up bases in Utah and also on Devon Island (where the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station is located). Also, each MDRS crew is composed entirely of volunteers, often people who are students and give up time and work opportunities to travel there. Two-week missions are a long time when you're in that kind of work situation.

While MDRS is not in an environment that is completely close to Mars, it does come close in a lot of ways. For example: we can walk for miles and miles without seeing so much as a telephone pole, it is a desert environment, and our Habitat is close to the size of what explorers would have on the Red Planet, according to the Mars Direct concept it is based on: http://www.marssociety.org/home/about/mars-direct

We had to fill out a medical questionnaire asking about life-threatening medical conditions. We also were in contact with a flight surgeon while we were on site. We had to be in reasonable physical shape, but it was more them taking our word on that rather than submitting to an examination or anything of that nature. It is challenging, though, in the sense that you're climbing hills and walking long distances (up to 5 miles/8 km in our case) in a mock spacesuit in muddy conditions.

Gravity and the lack of breathable air are two of the big ones. We couldn't simulate the gravity at all, but we did have simulated repressurization and depressurization "phases" in the airlock before and after "Marswalks." (We would stand inside the airlock for three minutes before/after to simulate this, but that was about it.)

Every year, the Mars Society puts out a call for volunteers for its two sites, the Mars Desert Research Station and the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station. You can apply as part of a team or as an individual.

In my particular case, I'm also a part-time distance student at the University of North Dakota. Paula Crock (our commander and also a UND student) put out a call for volunteers to all students in our department, which is Space Studies. As they had a journalist position, I met the qualifications for that position and she said I could join the team. We then applied to the Mars Society as a group and luckily, were accepted based on the quality of our science proposals and general resumes.

It's so hard to pick a spot to land on Mars, but I would say any of the spots where the rovers found evidence of ancient water would be a great starting point for discussion, as that could have been a habitable environment. In December, this ancient Mars lake discovery by Curiosity in particular excited me: http://www.space.com/23882-mars-life-lake-curiosity-rover.html