Why This National Park is a Favorite of NASA Scientists

A California national park has been used as a testing ground for NASA missions for decades.

Transcript

00:00About as foreboding and inhospitable as Mars, California's Death Valley, as its name suggests,

00:10is no place for humans.

00:13But despite its extreme temperature shifts, scientists from NASA have been visiting this

00:18red planet's stand-in since the 1970s, if only because it's a lot closer.

00:25About a five-hour car ride from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Death Valley National

00:30Park serves as a testbed for Mars' missions due to its striking resemblance to the Martian

00:36surface.

00:37As explained by Park Ranger Matthew Lamar in a report by SFGate, the below-sea-level

00:42basin is uniquely situated for research.

00:45Quote,

00:46Here in Death Valley, we have a unique ability to help understand other worlds.

00:50Because it is so hot and dry, we lack things like vegetation.

00:53When you come here, you can see that geology exposed.

00:56That rocky terrain is in a lot of areas.

00:59Because of the volcanic activity here in Death Valley, it can be compared to the surface

01:03of Mars."

01:05As NASA JPL's Alan Chen told SFGate, putting Mars rovers through their paces is vital to

01:11the success of any mission, since commands can take up to 20 minutes to travel through

01:16space.

01:17Quote,

01:18We have to make sure that everything can happen without us intervening.

01:21We have to put the vehicle through everything that's possible it could see here on Earth."

01:26He added,

01:27Quote,

01:28Southern California, and California in general, has a whole bunch of terrain that's very

01:31Mars-like.

01:32The fact that it's in our backyard is extremely convenient."