Out-of-world experience
Grise Fiord resident talks about time on Devon Island and working with Mars project
Myles Dolphin
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 9, 2013
AUSUITTUQ/GRISE FIORD
High up in Canada's Arctic, on the 75th parallel, lies an environment remarkably similar to the one found on Mars.
In this picture from 2010, Grise Fiord resident Ben Audlaluk tries on a NASA spacesuit while working on Devon Island. The 24-year-old was deputy camp manager at the Haughton-Mars Project from 2007 to 2012, and was responsible for keeping the camp running. - photo courtesy of Ben Audlaluk |
The rocky polar desert on Devon Island - the largest uninhabited island on Earth - is the ideal location for scientists to carry out experiments that may ultimately improve future space explorations.
Between 2007 and 2012, Ben Audlaluk spent every summer working on the island at the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP), acting as deputy camp manager of the site.
The Grise Fiord resident was responsible for keeping the camp going, which served as a headquarters for scientists and other researchers who conducted work at the nearby Haughton impact crater.
Audlaluk said this is the first summer he hasn't been back to the island.
"I started working in Grise Fiord so I didn't have time to go this summer," he said.
"It is a beautiful place. It is mostly rocky and the land is grey, but I really liked it there."
A chance encounter with the project's director, Pascal Lee, back in 2007 is what led to an invitation to work at the site.
"When he came up here that year, I told him I'd be interested in working there and he said yes," he said.
"I've met some really interesting people there, like astronauts and scientists. My favourite part was going out on the land, though."
The desolate land contains its fair share of wildlife, too, such as muskox, rabbits, lemmings, Arctic foxes and seals.
Another one of Audlaluk's responsibilities involved taking scientists to the nearby crater, the site of a huge impact roughly 39 million years ago.
The 23-kilometre wide crater's unique geology and climatology allows scientists to get a better idea of what terrain on Mars is probably like.
In the past few years funding for the project has decreased and fewer scientists have been spending time there.
"There were close to 50 in 2008 or 2009 but in the past few years it's been closer to 15," Audlaluk said, adding there were also three other Grise Fiord residents working with him there until a few years ago.
Lee said Audlaluk and several longtime members of the team share an unspoken connection.
"We all genuinely love Devon Island," Lee said.
"We are in awe at the wonder of its amazing landscapes. And we have shared great adventures exploring the place during several summers of our lives."
In the summer of 2008, Audlaluk was lucky enough to try on a NASA spacesuit and see what it's like for astronauts to wear the heavy equipment.
Despite the cooler climate on Devon Island - summertime temperatures rarely go beyond 10 C - the suit was exceedingly warm.
"It was so hot in there but it was kind of easy to move around," Audlaluk said.
The 24-year-old felt a real connection with the land and hopes to be able to go back next summer.
"He has a great sense of humor and probably finds our research at times amusing, like when we test a spacesuit and pretend we are on Mars," Lee said.
"But I think he also relates well to our work. He's always agreeable to participating in our tests, including trying on the spacesuit."
