Can’t make it to Mars this year? Try the next best place. That would be Antarctica. The southern continent is very much like Mars. It is super-cold, stormy, and barren.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are the most Mars-like places on Earth. They stay below freezing all of the time. And rain hasn’t fallen there for 2 million years!
NASA and other space groups take advantage of Antarctica’s Mars-like conditions. They test robot rovers and equipment there. They want to make sure the frigid cold won’t ruin them. Plus, they train space-bound astronauts there. They want to be sure the astronauts can handle the extreme conditions.
Of course, Antarctica isn’t Mars. Much of the planet stays even farther below freezing than Antarctica. Both places lack liquid water. But Mars also lacks breathable air. This is a necessity for life as we know it. And then there are those dust storms.
