The Mars Society is planning to build a Pacific Northwest research station suitable for simulating missions to the moon or Mars, in partnership with South Seattle College.

The nonprofit space advocacy group announced today that its executive director, James L. Burk, and the college’s president, Monica Brown, have signed a 10-year memorandum of agreement establishing the partnership.

The plan calls for the Mars Society to lease land on the college’s 87-acre West Seattle campus and build the research station, contingent on funding. Both parties will raise funds from aerospace companies and other donors to support construction, with the goal of opening the station at the start of the 2027-2028 academic year.

The agreement provides for the creation of a joint space studies curriculum and certificate program; a student capstone project and internship program tied to industry partners; and a regional workforce pipeline and community engagement effort.

The Seattle facility would be the third analog research station operated by the Mars Society, joining the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on Canada’s Devon Island and the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.

Those two stations were built more than two decades ago to reflect the designs for Mars habitats. They provide opportunities for teams of researchers to test the tools and techniques that future astronauts might use for extraterrestrial exploration. During their missions, the researchers live and work under simulated Mars conditions. For example, they’re required to put on simulated spacesuits every time they venture outside their habitat.

Burk said the Seattle research station will reflect NASA’s growing emphasis on moon exploration as a precursor to crewed Mars missions, as well as South Seattle College’s traditional emphasis on workforce training. “For more than two decades, the Mars Society has operated analog research stations in the Utah desert and the Canadian Arctic that have shaped how humanity will live and work on other worlds. Bringing that capability to an urban community college campus is something new, and it is deliberate,” he said.

“The moon and Mars programs the federal government has now committed to are going to need a workforce we have not trained for in 50 years,” Burk said. “South Seattle College knows how to train people for the industries that actually build things. That approach is exactly what we need for preparing for planetary surface operations on the moon and Mars.”

The analog research projects would build upon the college’s existing training programs. For example, students learning about electric vehicle maintenance and repair could work on projects involving battery-powered rovers and drones. Students in the college’s culinary arts program could contribute to research into growing vegetables in space environments.

“South Seattle College has a long tradition of meeting our region’s workforce needs in aerospace, applied science, and skilled trades,” Brown said. “This partnership extends that tradition, and this initiative reflects our commitment to exploring bold, future-oriented opportunities that expand access, inspire imagination, and ensure our students are prepared to lead in emerging industries.”

The Mars Society is headquartered in Colorado but has plenty of Pacific Northwest connections. The Seattle chapter was created in 1998, shortly after the national organization was founded. Burk, a former Microsoft project manager, lives and works in North Bend, Wash.

During a 2023 podcast interview, Mars Society President Robert Zubrin — who earned his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Washington — said the Pacific Northwest was “perhaps at the top of the list” of potential sites for a Mars Technology Institute. Today’s announcement appears to be consistent with Zubrin’s assessment of the region.

In its news release, the Mars Society noted that the Pacific Northwest “hosts one of the largest concentrations of commercial space activity in the United States.” The society specifically cited Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite factory and L3Harris Technologies’ Aerojet Rocketdyne facility in Redmond.

To raise public awareness of the Seattle project, the Mars Society said it plans to install an inflatable mockup of a research habitat in South Seattle College’s Aviation Maintenance Technology facilities this summer. The society also hinted at more to come, saying that there’s “a public event in the works.”