Driving between rocks, growing his own tomatoes, rationing food…The crew members of the Hypatia expedition have been recreating life on Mars in the middle of the Utah desert, in the United States.

“You know that you are on Earth, but, at the same time, when the days go by, you have so much in your head that you are on Mars that you already react as if you were there,” says Cesca Cufí, an aerospace engineer.

In the station that perfectly recreates the red planet, they have faced extreme temperatures for almost two weeks. “Obviously, it’s nothing compared to what exists on Mars,” said Mariona Badenas, Hypatia’s commander and astrophysicist.

The most complicated thing has been lack of water. “We had a 2,000-liter water tank and we had to go through the entire mission with them,” recalls Cufí. “At most, we shower three times in two weeks,” adds Badenas.

The food was also scarce. “On average we have calculated that we have been able to eat half a cherry tomato per day and per crew member,” says Laia Ribas, manager of the greenhouse.

Some adverse conditions with which they warn us. “We are not yet ready to survive on the Martian surface,” says Badenas.

Now, Hypatia is looking for new crew members to return to Utah and continue the investigation in 2025.