A stargazing Poole student is to travel deep into to the desert to help scientists prepare for missions to Mars. Keen astronomer Julie Wardlow, 19, will set off for the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, USA, at the end of the month, where she will be part of a team developing the knowledge needed to travel to the red planet. “I think it will be really exciting,” she said. “We will be living in a simulation of the Mars environment for two weeks.”