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May 24, 2004 A human journey to Mars may be years off, but this week an Australian adventurer is bringing the mission a few steps closer to Earth. On May 22, Rob Porcaro, 44, started a 16-day solo trek across Australia's Simpson Desert as part of a research project that aims to simulate walking on the Red Planet.

Sponsored by Mars Society Australia (MSA), Porcaro's mission is meant to show researchers how an individual would react to the extreme isolation and weather conditions on Mars. Read this Article

Er. Right. Mate, I'm from that region and I study astrophysics. Tell the guy he's wasting his time. It's like saying, "I'm going to synthesis the reactions of the sun with this here light bulb".

He'll realise how the relationship between the simpson desert and mars is non-linear. He'll see some small flora and fauna. He'll get hot and thirsty. He'll have to use his imagination, which by the way, is not hard science.

this is very old news May 24, 2004. it wasnt about imagining he is on mars, it was about testing human endurance. 16 days walking in the desert, completely isolated. that would take it out of anybody.

being on mars would be harder but if the results give an indication as to how the body and brain handle it, then it should help in the training of first people to actually go to mars.

I've read the article. However, desert exposure and remote isolation is nothing new to the outback population, its a part of our life.

Ask a local and they'll give you all the answers you need about heat stress and heat stroke which is as frequent as getting hot and thirsty in the first place. These experiences can take a city lover 2 hours from alive to dead. And the effect is far more dramatic in summer. Nice to know he's gone in Autumn when its relatively cool and enjoyable.

Going solo without being rigged to scientific equipment is imagination, "I think this and I felt that" he wouldn't need to leave home for such an experience. It's already available. Using the treck as an indicator may give them some useful directions to creat innovative ideas from but the relationship is far fetched and media hyped.

To compare a walk in autumn through the desert to a walk on mars is not a linear indicator. The effects of being on another planet; the trip there itself; the limitation of technology and exploration tools; the changes in gravity; are just some simple and profound reasons why the body and brain would act disproportionately.

The article is a champion of imagination.