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 Puffy Face: What happens to your face in space?
Participants will be able to find out how the freefall environment of space can have profound effects on astronaut's cardiovascular health. Visitors will lie down on a platform that then slowly inclines to 15 degrees below the horizontal, tilting them so that the blood that normally pools in their feet shifts to their torso and head - much like what happens to astronauts in freefall. Participants can compare their before and after photos to see just how "puffy" space flight might make them. Visitors can also explore some of the potential complications that arise when trying to interpret facial expressions upside down - yet another interpersonal wrinkle on the road to Mars.
Tough Questions
What happens to your body if you die in space? Can female astronauts take birth control in space? What happens if astronauts discover life on Mars? What if someone becomes mentally ill on the way to Mars? These are the tough questions - the types of questions that people love to ask, because they might not really have set answers - but they do encourage participants in an exploration of some of the challenges of travelling to Mars. In this experience, participants will be able to listen to a range of ideas and responses to these questions - some of which will have come from other visitors.
Listening to Space
How easy is it to get directions over a bad phone line? What if you are doing it over a distance of 30 million kilometres with a vacuum cleaner running in the background. In this role playing experience, participants can assume the role of astronaut or as mission control support. The support personnel are instructing the astronaut as to how to carry out task - including the pops and crackles of radio interference and a light time delay. The astronaut not only has to decipher the instructions and do the task - they have to do it while listening to the noises of space travel - the distracting cracking, whirring and whooshing sounds of a spacecraft environment.
Emotional Contagion
Does the emotional state of other people affect you? Can you catch happiness - or anger? Participants will explore the role of emotional contagion - and their own susceptibility - by observing their own and other participants' emotional reactions to particular video situations. Visitors can reflect on the balance between empathy and sympathy, between compassion and distraction.
Proximity
Imagine spending 1000 days with the same group of people in a spacecraft the size of a small house. How close is too close? In this exhibit, participants can experiment with their own personal sense of space as they move closer and further away from one another.
Confinement
How would you deal with the tedium and boredom of space travel? In this isolation booth exhibit, participants are introduced to the stimulation and sensory deprivation that a journey to Mars would entail. They can reflect upon the tedium of the journey, and its potential impact on their own emotions and psyche.
Crew Selection
What kind of skills, ages and backgrounds should a crew on their way to Mars have? Participants can use this exhibit to explore those questions and more as they go through a crew selection process - using a series of blocks to derive the right crew combination for the voyage, they can discover just some of the issues mission planners will have when they decide what types of skills and attributes should make up the crew for a trip to Mars.
 Radiation Shielding
Possibly one of the greatest dangers involved in the journey to Mars is exposure to radiation. Participants in the exhibit will have the chance to explore just how challenging it is to try and protect astronauts from radiation. Visitors will test different combinations of materials to see how effective they may be at blocking intense solar radiation and cosmic rays. They can then reflect on the probabilities of radiation events and the possible danger they pose. Visitors will also be able to see the latest space weather forecasts and the latest solar observations - information that will be crucial to astronauts on their way to Mars.
 Rocket Launching/Wind Tunnel Testing
Everyone gets to be a rocket scientist with this exhibit. Participants can build their own rockets out of a collection of foam parts, test it for aerodynamic stability in a wind tunnel and then launch it up a tower using their own muscle power. Rocket scientists of all ages will have the chance to evolve and alter their rockets as they try and achieve the best design. Participants can also reflect on just how challenging rocket design is, and how much energy is needed to get any object into space -never mind a crew to Mars.
Solar Array Challenge
Participants in this exhibit will have that all too familiar experience -assembling a piece of equipment that is missing some parts. Visitors will be challenged to assemble a solar array that is short some crucial pieces and they have to ensure that the panel capturing the maximum amount of sunlight possible. Participants will get the chance to iterate on previous design solutions, changing the direction and position of the panel as the position of the Sun changes in the Martian sky.
 Life on Mars? (Extremophiles/Analog Windows/Fossils on Mars)
Is there, or was there once, life on Mars? Visitors are invited to pursue this question in this cluster of experiences that all concentrate on this question. For many people, including scientists and the general public, the primary motivation of going to Mars is to explore the possibility of life. In this exhibit visitors will be asked to reflect upon life here on the Earth, and on how we define and recognize life. Visitors will be able to see extremophiles - Earth organisms that either live in completely unexpected environments, or are capable of surviving extreme conditions, conditions that may mimic those of Mars. Many of these extremophiles live in areas of the world being studied as Mars analogs -and visitors will have a view to those diverse locations through video and imagery. Visitors will also have the chance to view fossilized microbes, and a chance to reflect upon how difficult it may be to spot what once was alive on Mars.
Earth vs. Mars
Much of what we know about Mars is based on our understanding of the Earth and its processes. There are a number of remarkable similarities between the two planets and participants will have the chance to explore some of these similarities in this projected "quiz" that challenges visitors' preconceptions of what Mars must be like.
 Would You Go?
A simple enough question - but it is one that underlies the exhibition. Visitors will have the chance to vote with their feet as they enter the exhibition, choosing the "Yes" or "No" entrances. But there is a twist -they are asked the question a second time as they leave the exhibition -an opportunity to change their mind once they are a little more informed about the challenges of Mars and its prospects.
 Mars Rock
Visitors get the chance to get a close view of another world - seeing a Martian meteorite first hand. An opportunity for reflection, the Martian meteorite helps illustrate the dynamism of our solar system's history and allows our visitors to ask some of the most profound questions about Mars and our relationship - was there once life on Mars? Is there now? Could we be related? Could life transfer from one environment to another? Are we the descendents of Martians?
Mars Flyover
If humans are ever to venture to Mars the landing may be one of the most challenging steps. Determining where to land requires very careful inspection of the surface - looking for both interesting opportunities for inquiry and potential hazards. With this exhibit, visitors can obtain satellite's view of Mars, seeing some of the highest resolution images available as they "fly" over the surface, seeing the varied landscape and appreciating the challenge of landing on another world.
 Walking on Mars
When humans finally set foot on Mars they will be venturing onto a world with lower gravity than we are accustomed to. Participants in this exhibit will have the chance to experience a simulation of how that may feel. They can wear a harness adjusted to a counterweight system that will compensate for over 60% of their weight, allowing them to walk over a surface and feel as if their weight has been reduced - while retaining the same mass - much like what the first astronauts on Mars will experience.
 Martian Dust Bowl
In many ways, dust is synonymous with Mars. It is something that is familiar and seems innocuous, but could be one of the biggest hazards astronauts encounter on Mars. In this exhibit participants will control and direct fans that are blowing dust inside a container, exploring how the combination of wind and large quantities of dust can obscure and clean surfaces such as solar panels, or equipment. This is an opportunity for visitors to reflect upon how dust may impact exploration and the potential for solar power on the surface of this desert world.
Space Surgery
What happens if you need an appendectomy in space, or develop kidney stones while on Mars? Medical care in space is a serious challenge for astronauts, and in this experience, participants will have the chance to explore one of the techniques that will be used for medical care. Experts expect that tele-surgery and remote coaching will have serious roles to play in space exploration - and the visitor will accept the role of ship's doctor and perform surgery on a model while being coached remotely by a specialist back on Earth.
 Space Food
What kinds of food would you take on a 1000 day camping trip? Is it possible to grow your own food on Mars, or on the way? How do you cook in space? Visitors can explore these questions as they examine some of the potential crops and foods that space agencies are experimenting with as they investigate how to keep a crew healthy on their way to Mars.
Spinning Chair
Space sickness affects the majority of astronauts in some way or another -and unfortunately it is usually at some of the most crucial points in their mission as they begin to adapt to freefall. In this experience, participants get the opportunity to find out first hand how disorienting disturbances to their neuro-vestibular system can be - they can use a spinning chair to see how dizziness affects their ability to do simple cognitive tasks, and in the process get an appreciation for the types of challenges astronauts face as they are launching and flying spacecraft.
Vibrating Platform
Life in freefall has potentially disastrous affects on the human body. If countermeasures to problems such as muscle atrophy and bone demineralization are not developed, humans may not be able to stand upon the surface of Mars. In this exhibit, visitors will reflect upon the hazards of space travel and also experience first hand one of the proposed countermeasures to help astronauts adapt to freefall.
Glove Box
The most important tool on Mars will be the astronaut's hand - their ability to hold and manipulate other tools will help determine the success or failure of the mission. Using and gripping items under a vacuum (or near vacuum) is a serious challenge - and this exhibit will help participants understand why. They can immediately experience the effects that low pressure have on simulated space gloves, and can understand the challenges of designing gloves that are both stiff yet flexible as they try and carry out some of the simple tasks that engineers use for evaluating and testing glove designs.
Dirigibles, Gliders and Planes
Exploring Mars from the air may be one of the most effective ways of exploring large portions of the planet -but flying on Mars has its challenges. In this experience, participants will test different glider designs to find out which ones are most effective for flying over Mars. They can experiment with launching gliders under Earth conditions and then see how well the same design would perform under simulated Martian conditions. They will test the aerodynamics of each glider to find out why flying on Mars will be so hard, and get some first hand experience with the ideas of flight and aerodynamics.
Stump the Bot
Humans won't be alone on the surface of Mars - they will have plenty of robots and rovers for company. In this exhibit, participants will have the chance to explore just how well robots can find their way around on the surface of Mars. They can construct a maze and test the robot's simple pathfinding abilities - a challenge that the real rover's will confront when exploring the surface of Mars.
 Loungina
To get the latest in Mars news, or to go a little bit deeper into some of the Mars related topics in the exhibition, visitors can chill out with the Loungina. Using screens and resources they can find out current news about Mars, get updated on Mars related research and even go a little deeper - learning about Mars Myths in Hollywood and exploring some of the ideas in Planetary Protection.
Should We Go?
Visitors come to this exhibition with a wide range of opinions on this very issue - and this exhibit will allow them to express those views, as well as hear the opinions of other visitors and of experts and specialists. Participants can reflect on the ethical questions of why we want to go to Mars and the underlying motivations for going - they can call into question their own opinions and values as they consider what may be one of the simplest questions we can ask about human exploration.
Animation
What might the Mars Habitat look like, how might it be arranged and described? How do visitors see a visit to Mars? In this open ended experience, participants can create a stop motion animation of life on Mars. They are challenged to reflect on how the habitat and its components might be arranged as they begin to tell their own stories on Mars through stop motion animation.
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