NASA & Google partner on Mars exploration

The Mars Institute and the SETI Institute are announcing a new partnership between Google and the NASA Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) to advance Mars exploration at one of the most otherworldly places on Earth: Devon Island, in the High Arctic.

NASA & Google partner on Mars exploration“We are excited about this new partnership with Google on the Haughton-Mars Project and about the data products being released. They allow us to share with the world some of the Mars-like wonders of the site.

And the fieldwork that we do” says Dr. Pascal Lee, planetary scientist with the Mars Institute and the SETI Institute, and director of the NASA HMP at NASA Ames Research Center. “

The NASA Haughton-Mars Project is a leading international Mars analog field research project centered on the Haughton meteorite impact crater site and surrounding terrain on Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada.

As one of the most Mars-like places on Earth, the site is often referred to as Mars On Earth. Over its twenty-two years of history, the NASA HMP has made many contributions to the advancement of Mars science and exploration through field studies at the site.

The Google documentary short takes viewers to the breathtaking “magnificent desolation” of Devon Island, and invites them to share in daily life at the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station (HMPRS), the project’s base camp.

The HMPRS is currently the largest privately operated polar research station in the world, and the leading field research facility dedicated to the advancement of planetary science and exploration.

“This new partnership between Google and the NASA Haughton-Mars Project, one of many groundbreaking research projects at the SETI Institute, is a beautiful example of how private industry and non-profits can come together to advance science, exploration, education, and public outreach,” says Bill Diamond, President and CEO of the SETI Institute.