Offworld Voyage: Training for Mars Exploration & Climate Biodevastation on Earth

The talk introduces Offworld Voyage, a decentralized science project that builds ecologically sustainable training habitats for simulated Mars surface missions. The speakers, both alumni of a crew at the Mars Desert Research Station, first explain the field of space analog research and compare several facilities, including Flashline, SAM and Chapea. They frame the project as a way to test ideas that could also help people adapt to climate stress on Earth.

They then walk through the design of the modular M.A.R.S. Tesseract habitats. The planned layout includes a bio-dome for plant, fungi and algae food, a greenhouse for greywater experiments, pedal and solar power, waste recycling, a fabrication lab, a medical bay and living quarters. The crew will wear pressurized suits fitted with biosensors. Planned exercises include simulated illness, time-delayed communication, and mutual aid and consensus decision-making under scarcity. A sound-processing prototype that imitates how sound behaves in Mars's thin carbon dioxide atmosphere was also demonstrated.

The inaugural mission is planned for a remote desert site, with several countries under consideration, and crew applications are open. Results are to be published in analog research journals, and the team is seeking grants and open-source collaborators. The main takeaway is that shared, freely available public science and infrastructure are worth protecting, and the speakers invite others to join the work.