Preparing for Life on Mars – Or how space is not free from human drama

The Habitat tells the yearlong story of a group of people volunteering for a mission simulating life on Mars. But while their entire adventure never really takes off –the habitat is set in a remote mountain of Hawaii–, their ambitions are indeed planetary in scale. 

Hosted by Lynn Levy, the series looks at the NASA-funded Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS), which seeks to study human dynamics within the context of space exploration – how do astronauts interact with the environment in such a mission? And how do they deal with each other? 

The entire feel of the series is fresh and charming. You get to know the characters, the passions and goals they set themselves to accomplish during their travels – play the ukulele or finally take up Russian. And you take a deep dive into the challenges of adapting to life without the comforts of, say, pooping without gravity's help, and eating food that is not entirely dehydrated.

Launched in April and finalized in November, this is a podcast you can binge on during the holiday season. All in all, you'll learn about space, but also about the drama of human interaction, in those cases where technology enables us to be greatly removed from the comfort of our *regular* habitat.