Mars on Earth: what do the everyday lives of volunteers ready to go to another planet look like

The conquest of the far reaches of space is not a new idea. The famous physicist Stephen Hawking and entrepreneur Elon Musk spoke about this, and Stanley Kubrick artistically outlined this idea in the "Space Odyssey", turning the perception of science fiction among ordinary people.

It was in recent decades that members of the scientific community began to seriously think about what it would be like to live on another planet, in particular on Mars, with its conditions close to Earth.

Source: Cassandra Klos

Perhaps Mars is more like Earth than we think. This idea is at the heart of the MDRS (Mars Desert Research Station) project, which involves dozens of volunteers from various backgrounds. They are trying to adapt to everyday life on another planet — for months they live in specially equipped stations in the desert in North America, which even visually resembles the Red Planet.

The heroes of the simulation program of life on Mars cannot communicate with loved ones and spend everyday life in artificial conditions so that researchers can understand how to send people to Mars in the future. Some of the volunteers had previously served in the army, someone had just graduated from university, someone was writing books or engaged in scientific activities.

In her photo project "Life on Mars", Cassandra Klos wanted to show how people simulate life in a split reality, and to understand how the simulated experience of life on Earth is similar to what awaits future colonizers of the Red Planet.

Cassandra Klos

Will I ever see a man on Mars? I don't know, but I really want to believe it. After all, humanity is on the verge of a technological breakthrough that has not been seen since the 1960s."

Cassandra Klos