Prep Time for Mars

The Mars Society is making sure that people are ready when the first human mission leaves for Mars. Two Mars simulation sites have been created, one on the Devon Island in the arctic and the other in the desert in Utah. Astronauts at these sites live and study the environment as if they were on Mars. Aside from monitoring the Martian day by adding 39minutes to their routine days, astronauts abide by the following rules:

• "They cannot leave the unit without donning a simulated space suit
• They cannot communicate directly with anyone outside of the unit without a built-in time delay in the communication - the distance between Earth and Mars makes direct conversation impossible
• They can only use the equipment, tools and food available to them inside the habitat."

While some of these measures may seem extreme, it appears that people are getting serious to make the actual push for sending humans to the Martian surface.

http://fogonazos.blogspot.com/2007/11/arctic-astronauts.html