While a certain company is supposedly inching closer to putting humans on the surface of Mars, scientists in Spain have developed a laboratory to simulate conditions of the Red Planet on Earth.
In a new study, published in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments, scientists recreated Mars' temperature, gas composition, total pressure and UV ratings. According to the Verge, the environmental data came mostly from findings in previous NASA missions including the two rovers on Mars right now.
The chamber cost $200,000 and a year's worth of work to build. The facility will allow scientists to test certain electromechanical gear that NASA hopes to use in future missions to Mars. The chamber was also built with a mechanism that sprays Mars dust on the tools to examine the effects.
"In my view, the main problem for devices on Mars is the dust, which covers all the instrumentation and therefore decreases their average lifespan," study lead author Jose Angel Martin-Gago, a physicist at the University of Madrid, told the Verge.
Currently, NASA's Curiosity and Opportunity rovers are trekking the surface of the Red Planet delivering troves of data. Thanks to the heavy research devoted to Mars, scientists have learned that it was once habitable and most likely had water. When Curiosity gets to Mount Sharp, its ultimate destination, NASA expects to learn even more about the history of Mars.
"Mars is a good place to learn about planets similar to ours and, as such, is the target of many NASA and European Space Agency missions," Martin-Gago told Laboratory Equipment. "Our group is primarily involved in the Mars Science Laboratory mission to construct a meteorological station intended for future use on a rover to further explore Mars' surface."
Mars One has already started accepting applicants to take a one-way trip to Mars. They plan to start taking four people at a time every two years beginning in 2024 in order to colonize the Red Planet.
Projects like Mars One will benefit greatly if more chambers like this are developed.
