Spanish interplanetary agency Astroland is selling three-day ‘Life on Mars’ experiences that take place in caves in northern Spain. The idea behind it is to give people a taste of what it would be like to live on the Red Planet, ahead of one day colonising it. Jenny Southan reports
Exclusively available on TripAdvisor Experiences, those who are willing to spend €6,050 on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure will embark on an expedition to Ares Station, a test centre built deep in Spain’s Cantabrian mountains, in a cavity 60 metres high and 1.5km long.
Taking place over three days and nights, the caves replicate the hostile conditions of Mars. According to Astroland, Ares Station “is equipped with everything necessary to test all the technologies and human performance capabilities needed for ten people to live on Mars”.
After one private mission, now Astroland is opening up the experience to paying guests, with five expeditions to be held over the coming months. In addition to three days underground, it will also involve a comprehensive three-week online training programme, and another three days of physical and psychological training at Astroland facilities.
Not so much for tourists, the excursions are designed to reveal insights into how humans will respond to being on Mars. Astroland says: “The Astrolanders will be pioneers in researching for the arrival of the human species on other planets. Everything that happens at Ares Station will produce important scientific and social advances whose applications will also improve our daily life on Earth”.
The Astroland ‘Life on Mars’ experiences are similar to other Mars missions being simulated on Earth for professional astronauts and would-be Red Planet colonisers. Recently, the AMADEE-18 mission saw crew spend four weeks at the Kepler Station in the desert of Oman, with support provided from a base in Austria.
Other Mars simulations lasting between four months and one year have been taking place on a volcano in Hawaii. But last year proved to be the last, when things went one. One member of the crew was hospitalised after four days. You can read more about it on The Atlantic.