00:03About as foreboding and inhospitable as Mars, California's Death Valley, as its name suggests,
00:10is no place for humans. But despite its extreme temperature shifts, scientists from NASA have
00:17been visiting this red 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 Park
00:30serves as a testbed for Mars missions due to its striking resemblance to the Martian surface.
00:36As explained by park ranger Matthew Lamar in a report by SFGate, the below sea level basin
00:42is uniquely situated for research. Quote,
00:45Here in Death Valley we have a unique ability to help understand other worlds.
00:49Because it is so hot and dry we lack things like vegetation.
00:53When you come here you can see that geology exposed. That 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 of Mars.
01:05As NASA JPL's Alan Chen told SFGate, putting Mars rovers through their paces is vital to the success
01:12of any mission, since commands can take up to 20 minutes to travel through space.
01:17We 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.
01:25Unquote. He added, quote,
01:27Southern California and California in general has a whole bunch of terrain that's very Mars-like.
01:32The fact that it's in our backyard is extremely convenient. Unquote.
01:36Unquote.
01:42Inahe Mutualim
01:42Inahe Mutualim
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