Mars Society Flashline Arctic Research Station Mission Support

Welcome to Mars Society Flashline Arctic Research Station Mission Support!

Newest Log
August 14th Journalist Report

Mission Support for FMARS analog research activities takes place at Mars Society headquarters located in Lakewood, Colorado. The purpose of Mission Support is to provide scientific, engineering, and general support as needed for the FMARS field team. Primary communications from the crew located on Devon Island must go through Mission Support, except for personal messages. The FMARS crew has minimal contact with the outside world aside from Mission Support since Web surfing is not allowed in order to replicate the limitations of an actual Mars mission.

The crew members are able to keep up with current events as Mission Support sends news reports to them, including local news and specific news of interest for each individual crew member. To inform the crew of potential satellite communications disruptions, we send them daily space weather reports along with Devon Island weather reports.

We also participate in the daily communications link to the Mars Society's Southwest Hab on display at the Kennedy Space Center by providing backup answers to questions to the crew from the visitors to the Hab.

To realistically simulate a real Mars mission, an approximate 10 minute time delay has been implemented between the time a message is sent and the time it is received. This is close to the time delay that would occur during an actual Mars mission, which would depend on the distance of Mars from Earth. Mars Society members staff Mission Support.

Please contact us if you are interested in becoming involved with Mission Support activities. We need a staff of about 4 people every day from 3 pm - 8pm. The following positions are staffed daily: Mission Support Director, CapCOM, Engineering Officer, Science Officer, and Liaison.