The Desert Reload—Before

Abstract

Beside how to get to Mars and how to live on Mars (see the last part on this), there is also the question of how to conduct science experiments from the surface of Mars. Like all space agencies in the world, people at ESA start to think also about that aspect and more particularly how to conduct geology, biology and astrophysical experiments from the surface of the Moon and of Mars. This is not a simple question as we need to adapt and to optimize the existing scientific tools and instruments to enable good and productive science research from these extra-terrestrial planetary surfaces. Several aspects are changing with respect to an Earth-like environment: gravity-levels, atmosphere compositions, temperature ranges, humidity ranges, radiation exposure, electrostatic and abrasive dust environment, unknown bacterial environment (if existing), distance from Earth, human handling in EVA mode, etc. The list is quite long. This is one of the aspect that the project EuroGeoMars is trying to investigate at ESA, among others like assessing the development of scientific protocols and techniques in geology, astronomy and biology research in extra-terrestrial planetary conditions.