How two weeks on Mars advanced The Aerospace Corporation’s space tech
Mars is only as good as its toilets.Five days into a two-week simulated Mars mission in December 2022, the holding tank for the habitat’s RV-style latrine clogged, unleashing a stench that threatened to derail two years and thousands of dollars of scientific preparation.This technically still being Earth, albeit a remote part, the “analog astronauts” could have called for a plumber. But doing so would have defeated the purpose of holing up in the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the isolated Utah desert to replicate…