A hundred kilometers from La Rioja, Argentina, and a thousand kilometers from the capital city of Buenos Aires, Los Colorados national park, full of red earth and orange canyons, looks a lot like Mars. In this area, as part of the Solar54 project, it will perform a series of studies and tests on different variables for simulating human life on Mars. Astronauts from space agencies from around the world planning to send humans to Mars are expected to be trained here for future red planet missions.
The Mars simulation area consists of six domes: three for accommodation, cooking and crew living quarters, one for hydroponic plant production, and one for Cubesats satellites. The central dome will be used as a general laboratory and a ground station for the satellite.
The project is funded and run by FANIoT and La Rioja management, a company that develops IoT technology, virtual reality environments and sustainable mobility. Ayelen Ebene, Director of innovation of the project, explained that the state of La Rioja has a historical link with the aviation industry and that this project, called Solar54, plans to revive this sector of the economy and reposition the country as an aviation-related supplier.
According to the website, the Los Colorados region is the most Mars-like place on Earth.
One of the most important aspects of the project is that its system is carbon neutral and powered entirely by solar panels. It is made of hard ceramic triangular bricks and a modular structure is considered for easy transport, assembly and installation.
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