President Bush’s goal to put a human being on Mars by 2020 will likely take cooperation from groups around the globe, and the BYU Mars Research Group hopes to contribute to the effort. “We’ve been working on several projects for about two years,” said Nicole Farnsworth, a physics major and a member of the BYU Mars Research Group. “And we are the closest major university to the Mars Desert Research Station.”

Members of the BYU Mars Research Group are privileged to have special research opportunities because of the school’s proximity to the Mars Desert Research Station in Southern Utah. “The geological formations near Hanksville, Utah, look very Mars-like and so that area was picked by the International Mars Society as a base for the research station about two years ago,” said David Allred, faculty advisor for the BYU chapter of the Mars Society. “About a year ago, we decided that we could probably help at the base because BYU is the closest major university to Hanksville, it’s only about a three and a half hour drive.”

BYU students will soon have the opportunity to live on Mars–a simulated version, at least. Student researchers are working with the Mars Society developing and executing experiments to prepare astronauts for a future voyage to Mars. “The Mars Society’s goal is to establish human presence on Mars soon. When humans get to Mars, we want BYU to be recognized for what we did in getting people there,” said Doug Archer, a junior majoring in physics and a study participant.