A Martian habitat is to be built near Toruń in Poland. The base will serve both as space research institution – and a tourist attraction.
The Red Planet, one of the closest to Earth in the solar system, has always intrigued human imagination. Generations have looked for traces of life, or at least water there, while research probes to the planet one by one disappeared. Polish scientists have been involved with Mars projects from the earliest. Now, a little Mars will be coming to a site near Toruń, a city which in Poland immediately associates with astronomy. The Martian base project is piloted by Mars Society Polska, a non-profit organisation supporting the idea of a manned mission to Mars and promoting Martian research.
The Martian habitat would be the first such construction in Poland and the third in the world. Work on the base is hoped to start this year.
Click on the icon above to listen to the report by Elzbieta Krajewska