What is Expedition Beta?
Expedition Beta is a training and research mission to the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah. The purpose of Expedition Beta is to expose researchers to the facilities and environment typically available in a Mars analog setting, to cross-train participants in several exploration-related disciplines outside of their particular specialization, and to certify new recruits for participation in future large-scale research expeditions. Five research projects will be completed investigating issues of psychology, geology, biology, station energy utilization, and communications coverage. Expedition Beta will be the second in a series of training missions, building on the success of 2004’s Expedition Alpha to MDRS and previous large-scale research missions such as 2003’s Expedition One to MDRS and 2004’s Expedition Two to Arkaroola, Australia. Successful participants of the training series will have the opportunity to contribute to future large-scale expeditions being planned for the C
