Looking for survival strategies on Mars from the Atacama Desert

A group of scientists, including NASA consultant Angelo Vermeulen, will seclude themselves in an isolated habitat in the Atacama Desert in 2015 in order to develop sustainable survival strategies for a mission to Mars. The project is called “Seeker” and will join a group of people of different disciplines, ages and cultures, in order to cover a broad spectrum of ideas, strategies and knowledge – to think outside the box and generate as many creative solutions as possible. They will focus on solutions regarding water, food and energy supplies, recycling, as well as ensuring that isolating such different people in a limited space can be as smooth as possible. According to the project manager, the Atacama Desert, being the driest desert on Earth, is the one place on Earth most similar to the conditions on Mars. That makes it an ideal site for projects like Seeker and for testing space robot prototypes.

travelArt does not offer survival training and nobody is being secluded on our tours – though we do offer exciting desert experiences! If you would like to know more about our programmes in the Atacama Desert, please do not hesitate to ask your travelArt sales partner.