In an effort to identify potential problems with a Martian settlement, the Mars Society has four planned “Mars Analog Research Stations” which will act as a sort of dress rehearsal. The FMARS 11 unit in the Antarctic has recently finished its run, but the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah is currently operating. When researchers leave the unit to collect samples they wear spacesuits, and e-mail is on a 20-minute delay to simulate the radio distance to Mars.

One of the current team members is MIT graduate student Philip Cunio, who is blogging his mission.

Today I took a chemshower. That’s what we call getting clean without using very much water, or very much of anything at all. It’s a great way to get clean in space or on Mars, because there isn’t very much water (that’s because you have to carry all your water with you, and carrying lots of heavy water can be very expensive). So I essentially took a shower without taking a shower, the way many astronauts do.

How does it work? Well, first I took clean clothes downstairs. Then I mixed up my bath – a capful of very concentrated soap poured into about 20 oz. (that’s the size of a soda bottle) of water. Then I took a washcloth and used it to give myself a spongebath, making sure to clean behind my ears. After that, I dried off with a towel, and used alcohol wipes on my feet and around the sensitive skin of my face. Then I took special waterless shampoo and washed out my hair. After that, I poured the bathwater down the sink (we have to use special biodegradable soap because all the water we use is recycled to the plants that we are growing in the GreenHab), dressed, and felt much cleaner.

The Mars Society site also includes field reports and Web cams.

(via BoingBoing)