The University of North Dakota

On several grassy acres near I-29 owned by the University of North Dakota Aerospace Foundation, aerospace engineer and UND Aerospace faculty member Pablo de León leads a student team that’s assembled a series of “space” modules meant to simulate the closed environment of a planetary station. In this case, Mars. It’s all part of an ongoing research project—the only one like in the nation—funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of its ambitious long-term plan to establish a human colony on Mars.