INNOVATION March-April 2018

Participants in the Mars Desert Research Station’s simulation program go for a walk in the desert near Hanksville, Utah. P hoto : J ulia D e M arines .

I f you were planning to travel to one of the most hostile environments known to humankind, how would you test the equipment and systems you would need to survive? When Zac Trolley, P.Eng. (AB), got the call last October asking him to help answer that question, he didn’t hesitate: he’s always wanted to travel to Mars. The electrical engineer was being asked to spend his vacation on a mission at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), a Mars-simulation facility located in the desert near Hanksville, Utah. The Mars Society, an organization that advocates for human exploration and settlement of Mars, operates the MDRS. “I was the backup crew, so I wasn’t supposed to go,” says Trolley by phone from Calgary, where he works at a small tech firm that develops and deploys Internet of Things-style data technology for industry, “but the engineer who was scheduled to go works for NASA and had to back out.” As a space-analogue facility, the station supports research into the technology, operations, and science needed for space exploration by humans. Similar research stations exist in Israel, Oman, and Canada’s Arctic, and atop Hawaii’s Mauna Loa. For eight months each year, the Utah station hosts teams of Mars enthusiasts, who volunteer for two- to three-week missions. Each six-person team conducts research, tests equipment, and does public outreach. In keeping with the simulation, before a crew member steps outside, they must first put on a ‘spacesuit,’ strap on 20 kilograms or so of gear, and put on a big bubble helmet that seals to their spacesuit. “As the crew engineer, I was in charge of maintaining the facility during the mission,”

Trolley’s interest in Mars simulations is twofold. He’s eager for humans to travel to Mars, something that seems one step closer with the recent success of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. He’s also fascinated by how space research and engineering could help us solve big problems here on Earth—protecting limited natural resources and ecosystems, developing efficient fuel sources, feeding a burgeoning world population, and mitigating the effects of climate change. “These analogue missions run in harsh environments, and they’re solving all these problems and developing all these procedures,” Trolley explains. “One next step would be to take this hardware and these systems and bring them to Mars, but the other path is how do we commercialize it on Earth? How do we turn it into an engineering project or procedure here on Earth to improve life on Earth? For instance, if we can figure out a way to grow food on Mars, we could grow food just about anywhere on Earth.” Here in British Columbia, equipment is being put through its paces to prepare it for another hostile, equally alien environment. Victoria-based non-profit society Ocean Networks Canada installs and maintains Internet-connected sea-floor observatories off the BC coast. These groups of instruments collect data on physical, chemical, biological, and geological aspects of the ocean to support earth-science research. Working under water at depth is as challenging as working in space or on another planet, maintains the organization’s Observatory Operations Director, Adrian Round. For technologies to work in space, engineers have to deal with radiation and

says Trolley. While at the MDRS, he applied his engineering skills to fixing a small, slow propane leak in the building housing the crew, repairing the air supply on two spacesuits, and assessing the safety of on- site equipment. “I also supported the others by helping them set up the infrastructure required for their experiments.” The experiments during the mission included testing part of a next-generation model f a food-growing system used on the International Space Station, chlorophyll detectors, and the durability of gloves designed by a US–based space suit manufacturer. This may sound like science camp for adults, but the purpose is serious. In order to safety-test equipment that astronauts will use on the space station or a mission to Mars, you first need to put it through its paces as best you can on Earth. Like the other locations of Mars-simulation stations, Utah was chosen for its hostile environment. The state’s high desert sees significant day–night temperature fluctuations and UV exposure, and it has scarce vegetation and even scarcer water. It’s also isolated and, with its badlands, resembles the Martian landscape. At the MDRS, amenities are basic. In addition to two observatories, a greenhouse, and an outbuilding used for science experiments, the main two- storey, 8-metre-diameter building houses some workshop and storage space, airlocks, showers and toilets, and crew living quarters. Its design mimics the size and circumference of a heavy-lift rocket, providing crew members with about the same amount of space they would have on a trip to Mars.

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19: Participants in the Mars Desert Research Station’s simulation program go for a walk in the desert near Hanksville, Utah. Photo: Julia DeMarines.

28: Brock Commons Tallwood House, at UBC Vancouver, is the world’s tallest hybrid timber structure. Inset photo: Michael Elkan; main photo: courtesy of naturallywood.com, by KK Law.

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