Jake Port
Jake Port contributes to the Cosmos explainer series.
Having just completed its year-long experiment, the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation has given scientists a better idea of what it would be like conduct a mission on Mars.
But spending a year living inside a 112-square-metre solar-powered facility on the Hawaiian island of Mauna Loa is not the only way you can get an impression of Martian life.
Mars is our closest planetary neighbour and the next step in space exploration. An inhospitable place with no food, water or breathable air, explorers will need skills in a wide variety of scientific disciplines to survive the harsh conditions.
To give insights into what this would be like, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia has created a free four-week course that aims to teach the basic scientific, problem solving and communication skills that astronauts will need when they touch down on the Martian surface.
Led by Tina Overton and Jasmina Lazendic-Galloway, the course offers participants the chance to be taught topics including geoscience, chemistry, biology, physics and astronomy.
Incorporating the same teaching approaches used in student lectures, the course commitment is just three hours each week and needs no prior scientific knowledge.
The course begins 24 October. Sign up here.
