December XX, 2006

Jonas Dino
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: (650) 604-5612/9000
E-mail: jdino@mail.arc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 06_XXAR

NASA SENDS STUDENTS TO THE UTAH DESERT FOR MARS RESEARCH

Two dozen explorers will soon don space suits, live in an enclosed
Mars habitat and conduct a research expedition here on Earth to learn
about the future exploration of the moon and Mars.

As part of NASA’s Spaceward Bound Program, 24 crewmembers will conduct

four, two-week training and research expeditions from November 2006
to January 2007 at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the
Utah desert. Each crew of six is comprised of a commander and a mixed
group of graduate students, undergraduates and recent graduates. The
crews will be responsible for all aspects of the mission, from
logistics to research and extravehicular activities (EVA).

"The goal of Spaceward Bound: MDRS is to prepare our future leaders

for human exploration of the moon and Mars," said Liza Coe,
co-project manager for the Spaceward Bound project at NASA Ames
Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. "The expeditions give crew
members an authentic research experience that research has shown to
be fundamental to exemplary training and retention of students in
science and engineering fields as they transition from school to
work."

As with any exploration, a significant portion of the work is done

before the expedition. Crews develop research assignments and
determine what equipment is necessary during their mission. The
expeditions themselves are rigorous, with crews working 12- to
15-hour days. The crews perform actual research on local geology,
microbiology and crewmember physiology, as well as field-testing of
new EVA hardware, rigging data loggers, and performing work-study
task and procedure analysis.

During the expeditions, the crews will be in communication with the

outside world via a Web blog, where students and the public can
follow the mission. On Dec. 12, NASA Quest will conduct a Web cast
from the MDRS. The Web cast will connect K–12 students who have been
participating in a Lunar Research Station Design Challenge since
September, with crewmembers and commanders who at that point will be
living in the MDRS habitat.

Spaceward Bound is an educational program developed at NASA Ames

Research Center, in partnership with the Mars Society. The program is
funded by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA
Headquarters, Washington. The focus of Spaceward Bound is to train
the next generation of space explorers by having students and
teachers participate in the exploration of scientifically interesting
but remote and extreme environments on Earth as analogs for human
exploration of the moon and Mars.
The MDRS is one of four research stations established by the Mars
Society in areas of the world that serve as analogs (similar
environments) to Mars. The other research stations are located in the
Canadian Arctic, the Australian outback and Iceland.

For more information about the Mars Desert Research Station mission,
visit:

'http://quest.nasa.gov/projects/spacewardbound/mdrs/index.html '

For more information about the Spaceward Bound Project, visit:

'http://quest.nasa.gov/projects/spacewardbound/index.html'

For more information about the Lunar Research Station Design

Challenge, visit:

'http://quest.nasa.gov/lunar/outpostchallenge/'

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