Mars Arctic Research Station base camp

The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) is a project operated by the Mars Society to conduct geological and biological exploration under conditions similar to those found on Mars, to develop field tactics based on those explorations, to test habitat design features, tools, and technologies, and to assess crew selection protocols. To this end, the Society constructed a research station on Canada's remote northerly Devon Island in the summer of 2000. In the following summer, six separate crews of five to seven people occupied the station and began work. From 2002-2009, six crews occupied the remote output. It is required that any outside work be done wearing a spacesuit simulator and that all communications are conducted by radio. Communications between the station and off-island researchers are subject to a time delay which mimics that of actual radio traffic between Earth and Mars.