Mars Desert Research Station

Out in Utah's desert, The Mars Society, the same one we wrote that review of their website, is running a Mars Desert Research Station. Robert Zubrin is quoted several times in the article, and talks primarily about how practice and actual experimentation is essential before all the money is spent to send people to Mars. They discuss "habitat design, exploration strategies, tools, equipment and crew selection," and have run a total of 56 teams through two week training/experiments. They're planning a four month mission to the Arctic, for similar reasons, but to test out all the items on a much longer time scale.