The Haughton-Mars Project, 2008 Field Season is getting underway!

Hello all,

I am on my way to "Mars on Earth"!

This will be my third year participating in the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP). In 2003 I was invited to make a music video to promote the idea of humans living on Mars (see below!), and in 2004 I was the official photo journalist for the Mars Institute. See the Projects page for more info and to read my journals from the 2003 and 2004 field seasons.

This year I will be doing a photo journal for the Mars Institute once again, and it will be for a much longer period of time. In my "spare time" (if there is any) I will do my best to keep a blog on this site that you can comment on. This might be in the form of a video from my freezing sleeping tent each night. I will do my best to respond to your comments and questions. Please submit questions directly relating to Mars in the Ask A Mars Question section. This is a new feature that we are very excited about. Please allow a week to get your questions answered, but most likely it will be much sooner!

I am scheduled to be on Devon Island from July 13 to August 15. During this time I will be documenting the wide-ranging activities of the HMP participants which include scientists and graduate students studying everything from geology to robotics to spacesuits. There is an incredible amount that we need to learn before sending a crew of astronauts to Mars, and Devon Island is possibly the best Mars analog on Earth in which to carry out this research.

It can be a week-long journey from "Earth" to the remote Devon Island. My plane is about to board for Ottawa. If weather cooperates, I will fly to Iqaluit (Nunavut, CA), then Resolute Bay and finally Devon Island the following morning on a twin otter flight.

Meanwhile, please visit marsonearth.org to read about Devon Island, the largest uninhabited island in the world, and the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP). And as I stated above, you might want to flip through my past photo journals from 2003 and 2004.

over and out.
-Elaine

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Elaine Walker

Mars Projects Manager
Space Frontier Foundation
marsfrontier.org