The island of Devon, the largest uninhabited island on the planet, is used as a guinea pig to test the habitability conditions on Mars since the beginning of the century. And you can go there through a simple Google Street View search.
A Devon Island It is located in Arcticoff Groinentnext to the famous Northwest passage, in Nunavut, in the Canada.
Despite the numerous attempts of colonization, the extreme weather conditions make this Polar Desert The largest uninhabited island on the planet.
As it writes, for centuries people have failed in their attempts to live on this island of the Arctic.
Franklin’s lost expedition is one of the most famous cases of attempted colonization, when, in 1845129 HMS Erebus and HMS Terror men left to cartograph the mythical passage of the northwest in the name of Britain. All disappeared.
Then, in 1924, three officials from the Canada Royal Police (RPMC) – and 52 Inuit forcibly displaced – were sent to try to colonize the region.
“The idea was to be present – they were not necessarily police. It was more of a matter of having boots on the ground, to prevent other countries from claiming the Arctic, ”he told National Geographic, Kaylee BaxterAdventure Canada Archaeologist.
Three years afterwards, Two of the three agents died. The third agent and Inuit families were soon abandoned the island. The RPMC decided to definitely end the post in 1951. But the graves of the two agents stayed.
Go to “Mars on Earth”
In the last two decades, scientists have seen on this unique island the Ideal laboratory to study life in Mars on Earth. This is because Devon, located 1,600 km south of the North Pole, has a climate and soil very close to those that can be found on the red planet.
O extreme coldos limited communications systemsa lack of sunlighta vegetation The island are pointed out as some factors that allow scientists to simulate the exploration of Mars.
The above conditions do not, however, allow investigations to occur throughout the year. Even NASA’s best equipped expeditions are unable to support the Brutal winters of the island.
But any of us, since 2018, thanks to Google Street Viewbegan to be able to visit “Mars of Earth” all year round.
But it wasn’t ‘sweet pear’. The Google Street View team needed 7 flights and 72 hours to be able to land on Devon Island.
NASA and Mars Institute are also suffering on the skin the challenges of the most inhospitable island in the world, but in the end, they believe it will be worth it.
In one of the last expeditions, the leader of the Mars Institute Pascal Lee He said he believed “that the first person landing on Mars will say: ‘This is exactly how we train on the island of Devon’“.
