Usually, ibex and gazelles roam the Machtesch Ramon in southern Israel - they are only disturbed by hikers and day trippers who admire the archaic landscape of the largest erosion crater on earth.
Now the animals get company for a few weeks from a handful of unusually dressed researchers: they are so-called analog astronauts.
By the end of October, five men and one woman will simulate a stay on Mars.
Christian Meier
Editor in politics.
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During this time they live completely isolated.
They only leave their base station, a 120 square meter tent construction, in special spacesuits.
A ten-minute delay was built into communication with the support team in Innsbruck, Austria.
Don't repeat mistakes on Mars
The analog astronauts are supposed to carry out various experiments in their accommodation and during the simulated field operations. The main thing is to recognize wrong approaches, said Gernot Grömer from the Austrian Space Forum (ÖWF) of the Reuters news agency. "Hopefully we will not repeat every mistake we make here on Earth on Mars." The aim is to collect knowledge that could one day flow into a manned mission to the neighboring planet. This also includes testing a drone that is supposed to be capable of autonomous navigation with precise cameras.
The researchers selected the Ramon crater in the Negev desert, which is up to 40 kilometers long and between two and ten kilometers wide, for the simulation because the rugged, reddish landscape is similar to that on Mars.
The six analog astronauts come from Germany, Austria, Israel, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands.
They are also called "Ramonauts".