Crew Experience at the Mars Desert Research Station

Preparing for manned space exploration missions beyond Earth orbit requires precursor activities in the form of integrated mission simulations at dedicated Earth-based analog facilities such as the “Mars Desert Research Station”, a Mars-analog planetary surface base operated by the Mars Society in the deserts of southern Utah. Based on the author’s experience as executive officer, station engineer and medic during the first closed crew rotation at the “Mars Desert Research Station”, this paper documents some lessons learned for the design and operation of the next generation of analog bases and for actual future planetary outposts.