Even though the space agencies of the World are far from sending humans to Mars, the MARS Program is already preparing for the journey. The Mars Analogue Research Station (MARS) simulates life on Mars here on Earth in order to "test out protocols and procedures that will be required for human operations on Mars, and to test equipment that may be carried and used by human mission to the Red Planet." Crews spend between two weeks and a month living in a habitat simulating the conditions on Mars. The crews have to use only the equipment and materials inside the habitat and while wearing space suits can only communicate with scientists through a channel that has a built-in time delay to simulate that of a mission to the far away Red Planet. The simulations are conducted in two locations. The first is on Devon Island in the Arctic Circle, which is the largest uninhabited island in the World. The second is the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. Scientists are currently working on expanding the experiments to two more locations, with one currently under construction in Iceland. These experiments will tell a lot about how humans will be able to sustain life on the Martian surface.
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