The Mars Society had a desert excursion billed as simulating Mars. Now, they "navigated" with GPSs and couldn't get a simple communication system to work. I don't know what was in those boxes on their backs, but from their centers of gravity, it wasn't much.

Aren't the Apollo moonwalks a more realistic simulation of Mars?

Is there anything this exercise brings to the party?

Is this an example of the pure hype discussed on this board a few weeks ago?

From the outside, it just doesn't make any sense, at least not yet. Can anyone shed some light on why the Mars Society would waste their credibility on such an apparently amateurish publicity stunt.

Arf