Google Street View Adds Devon Island (Known As ‘Mars On Earth’)

By Amit Chowdhry ● Mar 25, 2019

Today Google program manager Ekaterina Minitsenka published a blog post about how Devon Island has been added to Street View maps. Devon Island is a desolate mass in Canada’s Arctic — which is known for its polar climate and treacherous terrain. And it is the largest uninhabited island on Earth. Based on these traits, it makes Devon Island the closest thing to Mars found on Earth.

Minitsenka received a special invite from Dr. Pascal Lee (chairman of the Mars Institute and director of the Haughton-Mars Project) to visit Devon Island and gain an understanding of the research done there. They spent three months preparing for the expedition. And it took 72 hours on seven flights to reach there.

“Devon Island, much like a future base on Mars, lacks the infrastructure we take for granted. All the supplies needed for camp—food, gasoline, tools and personal supplies—must be brought along on each excursion, and all the waste packed up and brought back to the mainland. At the research base, everyone has their job. Even Dr. Lee’s dog KingKong has a responsibility—he’s there to serve as an advance warning in case a polar bear wanders into camp,” wrote Minitsenka. “Every morning, before heading out to collect Street View on ATVs, we would brief as a group to make sure everybody knew the plan that day: who was leading, who would ride rear, and who was staying at camp to cook and handle maintenance. This provided a real insight into how humans who will go to Mars will explore the new planet: detailed planning and preparation is key.”

Devon Island on Google Street View – Photo Credit: Google

During the week, the team rode on ATVs to some areas of interest for NASA’s research and exploration including Haughton Crater — which is an impact crater 20-kilometers in diameter. And they also visited Astronaut Canyon, a set of V-shaped winding valleys that resemble the ones on Mars. Plus they visited the ancient lake beds of Breccia Hills.

“Breccia Hills. What strikes you most about Devon Island is how vast and desolate everything is. Yet every rock, hill and canyon tells a story. Breccia Hills, for example, is filled with shatter cones, rocks created by meteor impact millions of years ago,” added Minitsenka.

The entire experience was captured on a Pixel 3. This is considered the first-ever documentary filmed on Pixel to showcase how tough it can be for training for a Mars Mission on Devon Island can be. Google also put together a guided “Mars on Earth” tour on Google Earth.