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Abstract

The Haughton impact structure (23 km in diameter) on Devon Island, High Arctic, has been the subject of a number of scientific investigations since its identification as an impact structure in the early 1970s (see Grieve 1988 for a summary). Due to its near polar location (75.2°N, 89.5°W), Haughton has experienced a predominantly cold and relatively dry climate throughout most of its history, and is for this reason exceptionally well preserved considering its age (~39 Ma). While by no means subject to environmental conditions as extreme as those encountered on Mars at present, the structure's general climatic setting in a terrestrial polar desert (annual average temperature is -16 °C; annual precipitation is <13 mm)-including the implied continuous permafrost underlying its terrains-and the presence of a number of other geologic features at or near the crater that bear possible relevance to Mars, make the site attractive as a potential analog for Mars (Lee 1997). Haughton is the only terrestrial impact structure known to be set in a polar desert.In 1997, a pilot study was initiated to visit Haughton with an eye towards comparative planetary studies (with focus on Mars) and a small field party of four deployed to Devon Island with support from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US National Research Council (NRC), and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) (Lee et al. 1998). Haughton and its surrounding terrains proved to offer a wide range of investigative possibilities for analog studies (e.g., Lee 2000;Lee et al. 2001Lee et al. , 2002Lee et al. , 2003Lee et al. , 2004Lee et al. , 2005Glass et al. 2002Glass et al. , 2005, with the prospect of many seasons of field work needed ahead to complete even initial surveys, and so the Haughton-Mars Project was established as a longer term effort. Now in its tenth year of operation, the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) is an international multidisciplinary planetary analog field research project centered on the scientific study of the Haughton impact structure and surrounding terrains, with both a science program (seeking to advance our scientific understanding of the site in the broad context of planetary science and astrobiology) and an exploration program (seeking to use the site and the fact that actual scientific field investigations are taking place there [not simulations thereof] as an opportunity to drive and mature technologies and strategies for future planetary exploration with both robotic systems and humans). Being set in a polar desert, i.e., an environment which, by terrestrial standards, is extremely cold, dry, rocky, dusty, UV-irradiated, and largely unvegetated, the site presents real operational challenges to field exploration that are analogous in fundamental ways (although much more forgiving, of course) to those expected in planetary surface exploration.At present, each summer the HMP hosts tens of researchers (scientists and engineers), graduate and undergraduate students, and support staff at its base campthe Haughton-Mars Projec...