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December XX, 2006Jonas DinoNASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.Phone: (650) 604-5612/9000E-mail: jdino@mail.arc.nasa.govRELEASE: 06_XXARNASA SENDS STUDENTS TO THE UTAH DESERT FOR MARS RESEARCHTwo dozen explorers will soon don space suits, live in an enclosedMars habitat and conduct a research expedition here on Earth to learnabout the future exploration of the moon and Mars.As part of NASA’s Spaceward Bound Program, 24 crewmembers will conductfour, two-week training and research expeditions from November 2006to January 2007 at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in theUtah desert. Each crew of six is comprised of a commander and a mixedgroup of graduate students, undergraduates and recent graduates. Thecrews will be responsible for all aspects of the mission, fromlogistics to research and extravehicular activities (EVA)."The goal of Spaceward Bound: MDRS is to prepare our future leadersfor human exploration of the moon and Mars," said Liza Coe,co-project manager for the Spaceward Bound project at NASA AmesResearch Center, Moffett Field, Calif. "The expeditions give crewmembers an authentic research experience that research has shown tobe fundamental to exemplary training and retention of students inscience and engineering fields as they transition from school towork."As with any exploration, a significant portion of the work is donebefore the expedition. Crews develop research assignments anddetermine what equipment is necessary during their mission. Theexpeditions themselves are rigorous, with crews working 12- to15-hour days. The crews perform actual research on local geology,microbiology and crewmember physiology, as well as field-testing ofnew EVA hardware, rigging data loggers, and performing work-studytask and procedure analysis.During the expeditions, the crews will be in communication with theoutside world via a Web blog, where students and the public canfollow the mission. On Dec. 12, NASA Quest will conduct a Web castfrom the MDRS. The Web cast will connect K–12 students who have beenparticipating in a Lunar Research Station Design Challenge sinceSeptember, with crewmembers and commanders who at that point will beliving in the MDRS habitat.Spaceward Bound is an educational program developed at NASA AmesResearch Center, in partnership with the Mars Society. The program isfunded by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASAHeadquarters, Washington. The focus of Spaceward Bound is to trainthe next generation of space explorers by having students andteachers participate in the exploration of scientifically interestingbut remote and extreme environments on Earth as analogs for humanexploration of the moon and Mars.
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