Photos provided by Ellen Czaplinski and Alexandra Dukes
INVESTIGATING MARS FROM EARTH In a strange habitat surrounded by red soil, EAPS alumna Ellen Czaplinski dons a special suit so she can go outside of her habitat and gather samples for experiments. If her radio contact is interrupted, the mission is aborted and she heads straight back to the habitat. She’s not on Mars; she’s on a simulated habitat in Utah. But still, she says the impact of the experience is immersive. “It looks very similar to a lot of the pictures of Mars from the perspective of the rovers,” she said, “even in the color of the landscape – there are very vibrant red colors and different horizontal layers due to the different colors of the clay minerals. It really does look like you’re on Mars.” The mission was an expedition to a simulated habitat, where researchers took pains to live as astronauts would live on Mars for two weeks. These details required only using water that is brought in, living in extremely restricted quarters, and stepping into an airlock before venturing outside the habitat in an EVA
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