TripAdvisor in association with Astroland are giving tourists the chance to undertake an expedition that recreates the experience of life on Mars!
NASA revealed in June that it is opening the International Space Station to tourists from 2020. At that rate, however, eager budding astronauts will have to wait for some time before they actually visit the red planet.
Now, according to Geek.com, one company is making it a faster reality of sorts for space travellers to experience life on our galactic neighbour. They don’t even have to board a rocket and leave Earth’s atmosphere.
The Astroland agency is providing an underground expedition located deep in a cave in the Cantabrian mountains in northern Spain.
The area is designed to simulate as close to the exact living conditions of what it’s like to exist in a human colony on the Red Planet.
Astronauts will spend three days and nights in the cave at the Ares Station. In a statement via Geek, that’s a “scientific Space Center that mirrors the harsh conditions” of Mars.
However, the experience starts before that with a three-week remote training program.
Then there are another three days of physical and psychological training, during that time participants learn how to undergo spacewalks and take part in natural buoyancy tests.
Inside the cave, the adventurers conduct “experiments” and test what human life would be like on Mars. Astroland CEO, David Ceballos, told the Telegraph:
“The Martian environment is very hostile with low temperatures, strong winds and high levels of solar radiation, which means the most suitable way of maintaining human life is… under the Martian surface. These Cantabrian caves are the perfect location for similar conditions for these trials.”
The 164-feet high, 3,900-feet long Ares Station is replete with research laboratories, custom made astronaut suits, technical clothing for a number of missions, life capsules, hydroponics lab, autonomous power and water systems.
There’s also 3D printers, kitchen, leisure areas, gym, survival kits, food supplies specifically tailored for each crew member, meters, and sensors. Fun holiday for some! Who knows…you might get to hang out with Matt Damon.
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