(Photo Credit: Nick Orenstein)
A fire at a greenhouse way out in the Utah desert shut down part of a mock Mars mission meant to explore the possibilities of growing vegetation on the Red Planet.
The surface of Mars is dry—very dry—which makes desert conditions the best test-bed for Mars rovers and other technology. But a power surge at the Mars Desert Research Station led to a fire in the habitation, with flames as high as 10 feet reaching into the desert air. The crew put out the fire, but not before it destroyed the GreenHab area of the greenhouse. The likely culprit was an electrical heater near a set of wooden shelves. No one was hurt in the fire.
The facility will cost $40,000 to replace. It was custom-built by Gary Fisher, a former Texas Instruments employee and board member of The Mars Society, a non-profit devoted to investigating potential ways to make a Mars colony sustainable.