Space
High Arctic…
beyond
Testing activity at the Earth’s most analogous site
to Mars is increasing as engineers develop robots,
aircraft and spacesuits for interplanetary exploration
The Haughton-Mars Project is a multidisciplinary
field research program
located at the Haughton impact crater site
on Canada’s northern Devon Island in the
High Arctic. Devon Island is the largest uninhabited
island in the world and the world’s leading analog test
site for testing the technology that is destined for use on
the red planet.
The Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) research station
was established on Devon Island in 1997 and is
supported mainly by NASA. A range of academic, nonprofit,
industry and government partners also run
research programs at the station. These include the
HMP Science Program, which is studying the biology
and geology of the site to better understand the nature
and evolution of the Moon and Mars in comparison with
the Earth. At the same time, the HMP
Exploration Program is using the site to
test and validate technologies for use in
the future exploration of the Moon and
Mars and to train personnel for these
exploration activities.
BARREN, ROCKY AND WINDSWEPT
Dr Pascal Lee is director of the
Haughton-Mars Project at NASA,
chairman of the Mars Institute and a
planetary scientist at the SETI (search for
extraterrestrial intelligence) Institute. He
describes the Haughton site on Devon
Island as a “cold, dry, barren, rocky,
windswept, unvegetated, UV-drenched,
AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM // MARCH 19
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