Editor 's note : The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE , an independent media company and website based in Brooklyn , New York . VBS.TV is Vice 's broadband television network . The reports , which are produced solely by VICE , reflect a transparent approach to journalism , where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process . We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers . Hanksville , Utah ( VBS.TV ) -- Travel twenty minutes north of this tiny town , to the craggy red desert of the San Rafael Swell , and you may discover a spaceship . The cylindrical craft is n't from another world , but it offers a glimpse of one . It is the centerpiece of the Mars Desert Research Station , an environment created by the Mars Society , a growing non-profit organization that supports the research , exploration , and eventual colonization of the mysterious red planet . The swell , chosen as a simulation site for its topical resemblance to Mars , provides the volunteer researchers who come here with an opportunity to live and work in a Mars analog , an environment that 's as close to the red planet as is earthly possible . While conducting geological and psychological experiments that could someday be useful to a real Martian expedition , this small group of Mars devotees -- some space scientists , some simply eager adventurers -- live and work in complete `` sim . '' They consume only dehydrated , shelf-stable food like Bisquick and ghee , exercise to preserve their muscles in `` reduced gravity , '' abide by the `` if it 's yellow , let it mellow '' adage in an effort to conserve water , and wear spacesuits when they venture outside . Animating their work is a vision of planetary colonization that is steadily creeping from the realm of sci-fi to reality . With the retirement of the Space Shuttle , NASA is shifting its focus to longer-term manned missions -- a dream that has been outlined by President Obama . `` Our goal is the capacity for people to work and learn , operate and live safely beyond the Earth for extended periods of time , ultimately in ways that are more sustainable and even indefinite , '' the president told NASA in April of 2010 . He then followed this up stating by the mid 2030s , `` I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth . And landing on Mars will follow . '' See the rest of Mars on Earth at VBS.TV . Even if trips to Mars are still decades away , public interest appears to be reaching new heights . After the Journal of Cosmology published a paper in October suggesting that the first trips to Mars would be feasible only as one-way journeys , the journal 's editor received over 400 emails from people `` volunteering '' for the mission . Motherboard 's Kelly Loudenberg recently paid a visit to the Station to get a glimpse of what life on Mars looks like on Earth . Compared with present government-run experiments , like NASA 's undersea NEEMO and the European Space Agency 's Mars 500 -- a six-man , 18-month-long isolation test inside a mock spaceship -- life in the Society 's desert station can sometimes look like an elaborate make-believe game for grown-ups . But this is n't a lark or a theoretical exercise : living in a state of constant `` dress-up , '' in the words of crew member Nori Cassman , is meant to prepare for the possibility of life -- human life -- on Mars .
Volunteer researchers live and work at station in the Utah desert , simulating life on Mars . Environment created by group that supports exploration and colonization of the Red Planet . Researchers wear spacesuits outside , consume only dehydrated , shelf-stable food .