In just over four months the Mars Institute along with our research partners from various organizations and space agencies will once again make the trek to the HMP Research Station in the high arctic for the 12th year of research activities by the Haughton-Mars Project.

As we get closer to deploying we'll keep you up to date on what specific activities we'll be doing this year. One added bonus event this year is the total solar eclipse happening on August the 1st. The HMP Research Station is directly in the path of totality so we should have an excellent viewing and research opportunity, weather permitting of course.

The Haughton-Mars Project will be using even more social media tools this year to keep you up to date. To start, we invite you to follow us on our HMP Research Station Twitter channel. Twitter is social micro-blogging service.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 1:18 PM

We had a great field season with some of the best weather ever for our researchers. At this time we have been debriefing with all the participants the events of the past field season and making plans for an even better field deployment next year. As well next year has an added bonus of a total solar eclipse occurring on August 1st with our research station being in the direct path. This provides us with an opportunity for additional research we might not normally do from our location.

The HMP Research Station is unoccupied at this time however ongoing research is being conducted in the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse with data being collected daily and being sent back by satellite to researchers in Vancouver and Montreal.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 1:16 PM

The HMP-2007 field season has now officially come to a close. By all accounts, HMP-2007 was a great success highlighted by several significant achievements. The HMP management and operational personnel have all returned home from the Arctic now, and planning for HMP-2008 is already underway.

Continue reading "HMP Research Station Update - August 14" »

Posted by Nick WIlkinson at 3:11 PM

I've returned to Resolute Bay to coordinate the preliminary end-of-season logistics and from what I've seen at the station, I'm happy to report that the HMP-2007 field season is going exceedingly well. Five weeks of continuously sunny weather has enabled all of the research teams to remain on schedule, and even get ahead of schedule in some cases. Most impressive however, is the hard work that everyone's been putting in to capitalize on the favourably dry conditions.

Continue reading "HMP Research Station Update - July 30" »

Posted by Nick WIlkinson at 8:15 PM

The field season is progressing well with more participants arriving today. We now have a list of the participants with a link to their biography. The weather has been great and unseasonably warm.

All the webcams are now online and the three HMP Research Station webcams are updating every minute. We've also added our second entry in our new feature this year "This Week @ HMP". Included are spotlights on various projects ongoing during that week as well as a new video feature.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 3:01 PM | Comments (0)

The HMP-2007 field season is now underway! Several HMP team members are now in Resolute Bay and on Devon Island at the HMP Research Station site. The first few days at the station will be spent setting up gear and the rest of the facility in preparation for the arrival of the first research teams, on July 10th and 11th.

Continue to watch this space and www.marsonearth.org for updates and additional information about the many interesting activities planned for this summer.

Posted by Nick WIlkinson at 11:42 AM

On Thursday August 10th the last of the participants left the HMP Research Station. The research station was prepared for the coming winter. While everyone has left the research station, work is still ongoing, both back at their respective institutions for participants and at the research station. At the research station the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse is working autonomously with researchers monitoring systems remotely. Shown below is the ongoing summer plant growth.

This next image shows the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse and surrounding area.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 1:01 PM | Comments (0)

The field season is winding down, and the station is being prepared for the winter as the final research projects come to a close.

Over the past week, additional testing of the Hamilton-Sundstrand spacesuit was conducted in addition to ongoing fieldwork being carried out by participants from Morehead State University, University of Aberdeen and University of Ottawa. The Mars Institute was also very happy to accommodate a visit by CSA astronaut Chris Hadfield. In addition to visiting HMP, Chris also gave talks about his experiences in space to the communities of Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord.

The station population is currently at 22, with this number expected to fall to 15 by the end of the day.

Continue reading "HMP RS Status Update - August 7, 2006" »

Posted by Nick WIlkinson at 2:16 PM | Comments (0)

Two new HMP Research Station webcams are now online and updating every 10 minutes. This brings a total of four webcams now available including the two from the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse.

MarsCam2

MarsCam3

Posted by Marc Boucher at 11:19 PM | Comments (0)

The HMP RS has been swirling with activity over the past few weeks.

With the Greenhouse and DAME research efforts now complete, the focus at the HMP RS is now turning towards preparations for the third major activity of the season: a simulated medical rescue Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA). Participants from NASA, CSA, Hamilton-Sundstrand, SFU, Mars Institute and several other organizations are busily readying communications systems, biomedical sensors, patient extraction hardware, prototype spacesuits and much more in order to execute a scripted scenario, which will take place on Monday. More details to follow soon.

Many HMP-2006 participants have flown in and out of HMP over the past week. The Greenhouse, astrobiology and geology teams from the CSA have now departed, as have the members of the NASA DAME team and AC Hitch. Dr. Rick Scheuring, MD (NASA-JSC), Tom Chase and Addy Overbeeke (Hamilton-Sundstrand), Dr. Azhar Rafiq (Virginia Commonwealth University), and Steve Chappell (University of Colorado, Boulder, Mars Institute and Rocky Mountain Rescue) have all flown in to help conduct the medical rescue EVA simulation. In addition, Scott Thackrey (University of Aberdeen and Mars Institute), Charlie Mason and Wesley Smith (Morehead State University), and Marius Verscheure (Universite de Paris and Mars Institute) are now in camp to conduct a variety of geological studies. Nick Wilkinson (HMP Project Manager) continues to fly back and forth between Resolute Bay and the HMP RS, working where needed to coordinate logistical support.

The HMP RS is currently supporting 29 participants, all of whom are enjoying and taking advantage of some gorgeous weather conditions.

Posted by Nick WIlkinson at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)

Aerial Photo of the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station (HMP RS) on Devon Island, High Arctic, taken from a helicopter on July 20, 2006. The HMP RS is managed and operated jointly by the Mars Institute and the SETI Institute. Research at the HMP RS site is supported mainly by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. Photo HMP-2006 / Pascal Lee.

Posted by Nick WIlkinson at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)

Another busy day at the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station (HMP RS). As we approach the mid-point in the field season, researchers are making significant strides on a number of fronts for their respective projects.

Traverses were led to the Trinity Lake region and into the Haughton Impact structure to study geology and biochemistry, while the DAME autonomous drilling team continued to refine their operations and attain new milestones. As reported yesterday, the CSA team working in the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse continued with their ambitious schedule and are continuing to report successes. Construction and upgrades to the HMP RS facility are also proceeding very well.

In addition, a telemedicine experiment was conducted. Dr Jean-Marc Comtois of the CSA, assisted by Canadian Forces physician Lt-Col Bruce Bain conducted a simulated patient scenario to test connectivity and fidelity of the telemedicine system. The simulation scenario involved a young researcher who had been in an ATV accident and was complaining of some chest pain and slight shortness of breath and moderately severe abdominal pain. Using a portable ultrasound machine provided by Sono-site Corporation, they performed a FAST (Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma) exam on a real volunteer and these images were transmitted via C-band satellite communication (Anik F1) to a trauma surgeon in Vancouver BC, Dr Ross Brown. The surgeon was able to clearly see the images and, had it been a real situation, these would have proven invaluable in assisting in the management of the patient, including when and if an aeromedical evacuation would have been required. This scenario also demonstrated the utility of having a consultant be able to visualize the patient and potentially be able to direct the practitioner on scene on the performance of certain types of procedures. Having this telemedicine capability greatly enhances the level of care available for real-life emergencies at the HMP site and underscores it's utility for remote medicine in general, be that in the arctic, in space or in other remote sites such as on board ships or submarines.

In the coming days, additional summaries and photos will be provided to outline the many different types of research and other activities that take place at the HMP RS.

Posted by Nick WIlkinson at 8:38 PM | Comments (0)

The weather cooperated just enough yesterday so that we could get one Twin Otter flight to the HMP Research Station (RS). Onboard were Brian Glass (NASA), Kris Zacny (Honeybee), Shannon Statham (Georgia Tech), Alex Spadoni (Georgia Tech), Patrick Audlaluk (Grise Fiord) and Tom Kiguktak (Grise Fiord).

Today the The Drilling Automation for Mars Exploration (DAME) team will get their project started in earnest. The Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse team is past just past the midway point in their field season and we'll have a report available tomorrow on their activities.

There are currently 39 people at the HMP Research Station.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 9:03 PM | Comments (0)

Yesterday we had one Twin Otter flight to the HMP Research Station (RS). Onboard were Pascal Lee (Mars Institute/SETI Institute), Camille Desportes (Mars Institute), Rhoda Akeeagok (Grise Fiord), Howard Cannon, Gale Paulsen and Edward Balaban from the NASA DAME team. Leaving the HMP RS was Perry Johnson-Green (Canadian Space Agency) who has completed his work.

Since we put in a couple of people early yesterday it was decided not to send any flights over today. Weather permitting we'll have a flight tomorrow with six people onboard and their cargo. There are currently 33 people in camp.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)

Everyone at the HMP Research Station is settling in and research activities are ongoing. The weather has been good for several days. Today we have scheduled one Twin Otter flight to arrive bringing in more cargo and the return of Pascal Lee, principal investigator of the HMP. Tomorrow we have scheduled two Twin Otter flights which will ferry cargo and the NASA led DAME drilling team. The Drilling Automation for Mars Exploration (DAME) project, is developing automation for future Mars (or other planetary) drills. Also scheduled to be on the flight from Resolute to the HMP RS are Camille Desportes, another of the Mars Institute interns and Rhoda Akeeagok from Grise Fiord.

This week the Canadian Space Agency Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse team began upgrades to the greenhouse. Since 2002 the Dr. Alain Berinstain of the Canadian Space Agency has been principal investigator of the Mars Institute's Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse. Dr. Berinstain will provide a report shortly outlining this years goals and progress. You can view these earlier reports.

• 2005 Preliminary Fall Report (PDF format)
• Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse Update, July 20, 2005
• Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse Photo Report, July 23, 2005
• Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse Photo Report, July 28, 2005

Also this week Alex Lasslop of CNES, the French Space Agency, began his psychology research project. His goal at the HMP RS is:

On one side to be a participative observer, in order to get a personal experience of an isolated, confined, and hostile environment, and to observe how people interact in such special circumstances, which are close to what could be encountered on the Moon.

On the other side I wish to conduct a series of studies to analyze the group dynamics taking place in such environments (the impact of interpersonal and intercultural issues on the interaction of the crewmembers, and the influence of the crewmembers social characteristics, personality traits, and interpersonal needs on measures of behavior and performance at the end of their mission).

There are currently 28 people at the HMP Research Station with that number expected to rise to 37 by tomorrow.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

On Monday our one scheduled Twin Otter flight made it to the HMP Research Station (HMP RS) bringing in more field support participants including Pauline Akeegok (Grise Fiord), Brandy Iqaluk (Resolute) and Philip Junior Manik (Resolute). Leaving the HMP RS as scheduled was Daniel Iqaluk. As well on Monday evening three more participants arrived in Resolute Bay. They were from the Canadian Space Agency, Martin Lebeuf and Richard Leveille and Mars Institute intern Melissa Rice. They spent the night in Resolute and yesterday flew over to HMP RS. There are currently 28 people at the HMP RS.

In the last week the HMP RS has been prepped for this years research activities. A report on this weeks research activities will be available in the next couple of days.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 4:54 PM | Comments (0)

For the last several days the weather has been good enough to allow us to get nine Twin Otter flights to the HMP Research Station from Resolute Bay. Five flights went over on Thursday ferrying cargo and the following participants from the Canadian Space Agency, Dr. Jean-Marc Comtois, Matt Bamsey and Tom Graham as well as PJ Attagootak (Resolute student), Sarah Huffman (NASA) and Alex Lasslop (CNES).

Yesterday four Twin Otter flights made it to the HMP Research Station ferrying the bulk of the remaining cargo we had as well as the following participants: From the Canadian Space Agency; Alain Berinstain, Richard Giroux, Philip Neron, Lydia Calhoun, Marc-Andre Lavoie, Perry Johnson-Green, Gordon Osinski and from the University of Florida, Rob Ferl and Anna-Lisa Paul and from Simon Fraser University, Colin Russell.

This brings the number of staff and participants at the HMP Research Station to 25. We are on schedule and anticipate getting the research activities started in earnest within the next couple of days.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 4:55 PM | Comments (0)

On Tuesday, July 4th part of the Mars Institute core team arrived at the HMP Research Station on Devon Island. Two Twin Otter flights brought in base camp manager John Schutt, deputy base camp manager Samson Simeonie, Canadian principal investigator Stephen Braham, one of his assistants Christine Peres, A C Hitch, Jesse Weaver, Connie Pudluk and Daniel Iqaluk.

They are currently preparing the HMP Research Station for the arrival of the participating researchers. Today, weather permitting, one flight is scheduled to go to Devon Island carrying cargo. As well the second charter has left Edmonton this afternoon on its way to Resolute with cargo and several participants including researchers from the Canadian Space Agency.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 4:56 PM | Comments (0)

The first charter plane arrived in Resolute Bay yesterday on schedule with the initial Mars Institute core team and cargo. Another charter with personnel and cargo is scheduled to arrive in Resolute on Wednesday, July 5th.

An initial assessment by the Polar Continental Shelf Project pilots of the landing strip on Devon Island at the HMP Research Station indicates it may be acceptable for use at this point. A reconnaissance flight to the HMP Research Station is scheduled for later today, weather permitting. Should the reconnaissance flight take place and if conditions are good then the first team will attempt insertion tomorrow to begin preparing the HMP Research Station for this years field activities.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 5:06 PM | Comments (0)

In just a few weeks the initial Mars Institute core team will arrive at the HMP Research Station on Devon Island for the 10th field season of the Haughton-Mars Project. Our field season on Devon Island is expected to run from the first week of July though to the first week of August, weather permitting.

We are anticipating an exciting field season with over 40 participating researchers from the Canadian Space Agency, NASA, CNES, University of Aberdeen, University of Calgary, University of Florida, University of Guelph, Morehead State University, University of Ottawa, Simon Fraser University, and Hamilton Sundstrand.

In early July we'll start posting updates as they come from the field to keep you up to date.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)

The Simon Fraser University PolyLAB in Vancouver, a unit of the Telematics Research Laboratory, is expecting to hire one or two support engineers, for a short period, to support exciting Canadian national activities in planetary exploration science, in which researchers develop scientific, engineering, and methodological techniques for furthering planetary exploration. The focus will be on understanding planetary surface exploration, especially the human exploration of the Moon and Mars, through supported field activities at planetary analogue field locations and laboratories. The selected person will support systems in this area in a field deployment in an Arctic field camp.

The requirement is to hire personnel who can support SFU's engineering support and management of exploration systems at the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station (HMPRS), on Devon Island, in the Canadian High Arctic. The hiring will be for roughly one month, starting in mid to late June, journeying to the Arctic at the beginning of July, and returning in early August.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 1:08 PM | Comments (0)

The HMP Research Station is now closed until next summer with the exception of the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse (ACGH) which is running autonomously. You can follow the day to day weather and plant growth progress with the three ACGH webcam's.

We had an exceptional field season and will post more reports in the coming weeks
and have already begun to plan for next year. Stay tuned.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 2:16 PM | Comments (0)

After an initial run of bad weather at the beginning of the field season the last two weeks have provided us with good to great conditions at times to conduct our research. Communications by Internet are now offline for the rest of the field season. At this time 14 people are scheduled to leave the Research Station today and tomorrow leaving a small group for the last 4 days before the Research Station is closed for the year.

We still have several photo reports that will be put online over the next couple of weeks for activities in the last week. This includes another report on the Hamilton Sundstrand space suit as well as the successful Mars-1 Humvee Rover traverse to the gullies.

The Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse continues to operate in autonomous mode and is sending back data daily including an image per day from each of the webcams.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 4:18 PM | Comments (0)

Today's activities centered around a major traverse into the Haughton Crater so that Dr. Jeff Jones could complete his sampling of unvisited locations looking to see if the human associated microbes have altered the local microflora for a planetary protection study. As well on the same traverse Dr. Brian Glass also needed to completed his sampling gravity measurements for his research.

Both of them along with four other participants then caught a late afternoon flight to Resolute ending their work at the HMP Research Station for the year.

An aerial View of Trinity Lake, the Mars Institute's Mars-1 Humvee, the DAME Mars Drilling site and Chawla Peak bathed in sunshine where Columbia Astronaut Kalpana Chawla's Inukshuk Memorial stands.

Read the complete report ...

Posted by Marc Boucher at 2:20 PM | Comments (0)

Today provided us with the type of weather you would want a brochure, sunny and warm. Everyone wanted to be outside to enjoy this day. It was also the perfect weather to testing the concept space suit from Hamilton Sundstrand. Pictured to the left engineer Susie Shimamoto tries on the suit for the first time (Click on image for larger version). Over the course of the next week the Hamilton Sundstrand team will test the suit in various scenarios including as part of traverse with the Mars Institute's Mars-1 Humvee Rover. Tomorrow we'll have a photo report of the Hamilton Sundstrand space suit activity.

A panorama of a part of area around the HMP Research Station. (Click for larger image.)

Read the complete report ...

Posted by Marc Boucher at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)

McCool Crossing.

To honor the memory of the seven astronauts of Space Shuttle Columbia's last flight, and at the suggestion of our colleague Keith Cowing of SpaceRef, the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) has established seven astronaut memorial sites on Devon Island, in the Canadian High Arctic, during the summer field seasons of 2003 and 2004.

Each site was chosen for its special significance in the NASA HMP's analog exploration program near Haughton Crater, and is marked by an Inukshuk, a traditional Inuit "Stone Person". The Inuit erect Inukshuks to mark land and to guide and comfort travelers on perilous journeys across the Arctic. At the base of each our Columbia Inukshuks, a sealed container was placed, enclosing the following in memoriam items: the bio of one of the seven Columbia astronauts, a patch of the crew's shuttle mission, and a patch of the NASA Haughton-Mars Project.

It is our hope that the Columbia Inukshuks on Devon Island will help bring peace to all those who continue to miss these seven astronauts, and will help inspire and guide future generations of space explorers who will journey to the Moon, Mars and Beyond.

Visit the Space Shuttle Columbia Inukshuk Memorials.

Pascal Lee
NASA HMP Principal Investigator

Posted by Marc Boucher at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)

Data collected by Dr. Cockell during his field work at our Arctic base helped him with this new find.

Large colonies of micro-organisms living under rocks have been discovered in the most hostile and extreme regions of the Arctic and Antarctic - giving new insights on survival of life on other planets.

Reporting in this week's Nature, scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography reveal their surprise findings that rock-dwelling micro-organisms can photosynthesise and store carbon just as much as the plants, lichens and mosses that live above ground.

• New signs of life found at the Poles Press Release

Posted by Marc Boucher at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)

Several new photo reports are now available.

• All Photo Reports

Posted by Marc Boucher at 5:42 PM | Comments (0)

For the first time, a full-scale Mars-prototype deep drill has been tested under field conditions at a high-fidelity Mars-analog site. The first Drilling Automation for Mars Exploration (DAME) field season deployed a modified Honeybee Deep Drill.

• Complete Report

Posted by Marc Boucher at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)

Everyone has left our base camp at Devon Island but as mentioned in our previous update data is still being sent back from the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse. The image below was sent back on Saturday, August 7th from the autonomous control systems.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

Another field season has come and gone. By tomorrow all participants will have left Devon Island and our camp will be closed until next year. However experiments are still ongoing in the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse which is sending back data on daily basis by satellite to researchers.

We're not finished reporting from this field season just yet. We have a couple more reports to post and several photo reports will be online in the next week. So check back soon.

• July 31, 2004 - Elaine Walker's Journal
• July 30, 2004 - Elaine Walker's Journal
• July 29, 2004 - Elaine Walker's Journal

Posted by Marc Boucher at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)

The NASA HMP Featured on the Discovery Channel Canada. Recently the Daily Planet Show on the Discovery Channel Canada featured a week long segment on either a science or engineering project of the HMP. These segments are about 8 minutes long and provide an overview of some of the work being done.

The video is also availableonline for your viewing.

Posted by Marc Boucher at 1:48 PM | Comments (0)

The NASA Haughton-Mars Project Receives the Vision to Reality Award.

During its 12th Annual Conference in Los Angeles, CA, the Space Frontier Foundation presented its 2003 "Vision to Reality" Award to Dr. Pascal Lee and the NASA Haughton-Mars Project Team. Previous recipients of the award include: XCOR Aerospace and the EZ Rocket Team (2002), Dr Yuri Semenov, Yuri Koptev and Dennis Tito (2001), The MirCorp Team (2000), The Sea Launch Team (1999), The Lunar Prospector Team (1998), The Clementine Lunar Probe Team (1995), The Delta Clipper (DC-X) Team (1994), and The Founders of the International Space University (1993).

Posted by Marc Boucher at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)