The Utah desert has some similarities to the geology of Mars, he said. "They replicate some of the same experiments you would do if you were on Mars. Collecting rocks, doing samples, doing surveying.

There are three more Mars Desert Research Station locations in the Canadian Arctic, Iceland and the Australian outback. Mobile users click here to see where in Utah the project is happening.

Since 2001, the Mars Society has spent about $1 million on the desert research center to build the habitat, rent the land and pay for supplies and upkeep, Zubrin said.

WATCH: A Calgary man who made headlines for making a short list of people chosen for a one way trip to Mars is now headed to the Utah desert to prepare for living on the Red Planet. As Carolyn ...

With the revisions, Mars Sample Return is still expensive, but would be less than $8 billion. “That’s a far cry from $11 billion,” Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, said Tuesday.

Hidden among the majestic canyons of the Utah desert, about 7 miles from the nearest town, is a small research facility meant to prepare humans for life on Mars.

The Atacama Desert is rich in minerals, which has caused conflict in the past. The War of the Pacific took place over 1879-1883 between Chile, Peru and Bolivia.